December 12, 2002Science6,493 citations
Shape-Controlled Synthesis of Gold and Silver Nanoparticles
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Key Points
- To develop a scalable chemical synthesis method for producing uniform, shape-controlled silver nanocubes and hollow gold nanoboxes with specific crystalline facets.
- Reduced silver nitrate with ethylene glycol in the presence of poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP) under controlled conditions.
- Varied the molar ratio of PVP repeating units relative to silver nitrate to direct nanoparticle geometry and dimensions.
- Used synthesized single-crystalline silver nanocubes as sacrificial templates to convert solid cubes into hollow gold polyhedra.
- Generated large quantities of monodisperse, single-crystalline silver nanocubes bounded by truncated [100], [110], and [111] facets.
- Identified that the presence and molar ratio of PVP strictly regulate the size and cubic geometry of silver particles.
- Successfully produced single-crystalline hollow gold nanoboxes bounded by six [100] and eight [111] crystal facets.
Abstract
Monodisperse samples of silver nanocubes were synthesized in large quantities by reducing silver nitrate with ethylene glycol in the presence of poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP). These cubes were single crystals and were characterized by a slightly truncated shape bounded by 100, 110, and 111 facets. The presence of PVP and its molar ratio (in terms of repeating unit) relative to silver nitrate both played important roles in determining the geometric shape and size of the product. The silver cubes could serve as sacrificial templates to generate single-crystalline nanoboxes of gold: hollow polyhedra bounded by six 100 and eight 111 facets. Controlling the size, shape, and structure of metal nanoparticles is technologically important because of the strong correlation between these parameters and optical, electrical, and catalytic properties.
Cite This Study
Sun et al. (2002) studied this question.