Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Nanotechnology

Beyond the confines of templates

Nature volume 467, pages 923–924 (2010)Cite this article

Subjects

The use of templates to control the morphology of nanostructures is a powerful but inflexible technique. A template that is remodelled during synthesis suggests fresh opportunities for fabricating new nanostructures.

Controlling the morphology of metal nanostructures is central to many applications because it provides an effective means of tailoring the electronic, optical and catalytic properties of those structures1. Reporting in Angewandte Chemie2, Kuroda and Kuroda introduce a new type of two-dimensional gold nanostructure that, intriguingly, is made using a three-dimensional lattice of silica nanospheres as a template. The top and bottom surfaces of the plate-like nanostructure contain patterned arrays of small dimples that are useful for various applications, but difficult to generate using other techniques. This work opens the door to the development of facile methods for producing new types of nanostructured materials.

Your institute does not have access to this article

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy article

Get time limited or full article access on ReadCube.

$32.00

Buy

All prices are NET prices.

Figure 1: Dimpled gold nanoplates.

References

  1. Xia, Y., Xiong, Y., Lim, B. & Skrabalak, S. E. Angew. Chem. Int. Edn 48, 60–103 (2009).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Kuroda, Y. & Kuroda, K. Angew. Chem. Int. Edn 49, 6993–6997 (2010).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Martin, C. R. Acc. Chem. Res. 28, 61–68 (1995).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Velev, O. D., Tessier, P. M., Lenhoff, A. M. & Kaler, E. W. Nature 401, 548 (1999).

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Johnson, S. A., Ollivier, P. J. & Mallouk, T. E. Science 283, 963–965 (1999).

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Stein, A. & Schroden, R. C. Curr. Opin. Solid State Mater. Sci. 5, 553–564 (2001).

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Li, Z., Li, W., Camargo, P. H. C. & Xia, Y. Angew. Chem. Int. Edn 47, 9653–9656 (2008).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Younan Xia is in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, Washington University, St Louis, Missouri 63130, USA. yxia@biomed.wustl.edu,

    Younan Xia

  2. Byungkwon Lim is in the School of Advanced Materials Science and Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 440-746, South Korea. blim@skku.edu ,

    Byungkwon Lim

Authors
  1. Younan Xia
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Byungkwon Lim
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Xia, Y., Lim, B. Beyond the confines of templates. Nature 467, 923–924 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/467923a

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/467923a

Further reading

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing