Defect‐Directed Growth of Symmetrically Branched Metal Nanocrystals

Branched plasmonic nanocrystals (NCs) have attracted much attention due to electric field enhancements at their tips. Seeded growth provides routes to NCs with defined branching patterns and, in turn, near‐field distributions with defined symmetries. Here, a systematic analysis was undertaken in whi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Angewandte Chemie 2020-01, Vol.132 (2), p.953-960
Main Authors: Smith, Joshua D., Bladt, Eva, Burkhart, Joseph A. C., Winckelmans, Naomi, Koczkur, Kallum M., Ashberry, Hannah M., Bals, Sara, Skrabalak, Sara E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Chemistry
Crystal defects
Crystals
Electric fields
Kristallwachstum
Legierungen
Morphology
Nanocrystals
Nanopartikel
Plasmonen
Seeds
Sterische Spannung
Surface energy
Surface properties
Volumetric strain
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Summary:Branched plasmonic nanocrystals (NCs) have attracted much attention due to electric field enhancements at their tips. Seeded growth provides routes to NCs with defined branching patterns and, in turn, near‐field distributions with defined symmetries. Here, a systematic analysis was undertaken in which seeds containing different distributions of planar defects were used to grow branched NCs in order to understand how their distributions direct the branching. Characterization of the products by multimode electron tomography and analysis of the NC morphologies at different overgrowth stages indicate that the branching patterns are directed by the seed defects, with the emergence of branches from the seed faces consistent with minimizing volumetric strain energy at the expense of surface energy. These results contrast with growth of branched NCs from single‐crystalline seeds and provide a new platform for the synthesis of symmetrically branched plasmonic NCs. Verzweigte Metall‐Nanokristalle sind für viele Anwendungen interessant. Ein neues Kristallisationskonzept wurde gefunden, bei dem Verzweigungen von den Flächen defektreicher Kristallkeime ausgehen. Die Ergebnisse bestätigen, dass die Evolution von defektreichen Kristallkeimen zu verzweigten Strukturen ein Balanceakt zwischen Oberflächenenergie und volumetrischer Spannungsenergie ist.
ISSN:0044-8249
1521-3757
DOI:10.1002/ange.201913301