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Controlling anisotropic nanoparticle growth through plasmon excitation

Nature volume 425, pages 487–490 (2003)Cite this article

Abstract

Inorganic nanoparticles exhibit size-dependent properties that are of interest for applications ranging from biosensing1,2,3,4,5 and catalysis6 to optics7 and data storage8. They are readily available in a wide variety of discrete compositions and sizes9,10,11,12,13,14. Shape-selective synthesis strategies now also yield shapes other than nanospheres, such as anisotropic metal nanostructures with interesting optical properties15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23. Here we demonstrate that the previously described photoinduced method23 for converting silver nanospheres into triangular silver nanocrystals—so-called nanoprisms—can be extended to synthesize relatively monodisperse nanoprisms with desired edge lengths in the 30–120 nm range. The particle growth process is controlled using dual-beam illumination of the nanoparticles, and appears to be driven by surface plasmon excitations. We find that, depending on the illumination wavelengths chosen, the plasmon excitations lead either to fusion of nanoprisms in an edge-selective manner or to the growth of the nanoprisms until they reach their light-controlled final size.

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Figure 1: The bimodal growth of Ag nanoprisms.
Figure 2: The optical spectra of Ag nanoprisms.
Figure 3: The unimodal growth of nanoprisms.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the use of a Cary 500 spectrometer in the Keck Biophysics Facility at Northwestern University. C.A.M and G.C.S. thank the AFOSR, ONR, DARPA and NSF for support of this work. R.J. is grateful for the support of the American Chemical Society Cognis Fellowship in Colloid and Surface Chemistry.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry and Institute for Nanotechnology, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, 60208, USA

    Rongchao Jin, Y. Charles Cao, Encai Hao, Gabriella S. Métraux, George C. Schatz & Chad A. Mirkin

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  1. Rongchao Jin
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  2. Y. Charles Cao
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  3. Encai Hao
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Correspondence to George C. Schatz or Chad A. Mirkin.

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Jin, R., Charles Cao, Y., Hao, E. et al. Controlling anisotropic nanoparticle growth through plasmon excitation. Nature 425, 487–490 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature02020

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