Diffusion-Limited, Aggregation-Based, Mesoscopic Assembly of Roughened Core-Shell Bimetallic Nanoparticles into Fractal Networks at the Air-Water Interface

The concentration of the plating solution enables control over the fine-tuning of fractal patterns and also drastically affects the crystal growth of Ag/Au core–shell roughened nanoparticles through diffusion-limited aggregation. At low concentrations there are more open spaces in the well-ramified fractal pattern than at higher concentrations, and the whisker-linked nanoparticles align almost one-by-one (see transmission electron micrograph).