The Morphology and Microstructure of Colloidal Silver and Gold

Colloid-chemically synthesized gigantic gold and silver clusters and microparticles have been investigated by high-resolution electron microscopy. In the case of the gold samples decahedral and icosahedral, multitwinned and triangular flattened particles were characterized. In the silver samples there were extremely small particles (<40 Å, see right-hand side of picture) whose structure is interpreted in terms of a pentagonal packing of the atoms. The inset shows a structural model (left, top) and a computer-simulated image (left, bottom).