Pressure effects in gold nanoparticles: single-crystal vs penta-twinned

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Understanding how crystallographic structure and internal strain influence the mechanical and plasmonic response of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) under extreme conditions is essential for their rational design in pressure-dependent applications. Here, we present a systematic comparative analysis of single-crystal (SC) and penta-twinned (PT) AuNPs, integrating previously published studies into a unified framework that enables direct structure–property correlations. We evaluate the pressrue dependence of crystal structure, morphology, mechanical response, and localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) behavior across different nanoparticle architectures. The comparative analysis reveals that, unlike SC-AuNPs, PT-AuNPs preserve their non-cubic structures and overall morphology up to 30 GPa. Despite exhibiting comparable bulk moduli, fivefold twinned nanostructures display enhanced mechanical robustness under extreme compression. In contrast, pressure-induced LSPR redshifts show similar magnitudes in both structural families, indicating that the primary differences between SC and PT nanoparticles emerge in their mechanical stability rather than in their optical response.