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Nature Nanotechnology (9 April 2009) | doi:10.1038/nnano.2009.114

Silver plates: Sizing and shaping with light

Ai Lin Chun

Like other colloidal noble-metal nanoparticles, silver nanoparticles have several applications in catalysis and surface-enhanced Raman scattering, and their plasmon wavelength can be tuned by the shape of the particles. Several methods to make silver nanoparticles with different shapes and sizes exist, but in practice it is difficult to arrest the growth of the particles at the desired stage because the reaction is so fast.