In this talk, we report the systematically investigation on the role of oxidative etching in the formation of Ag nanoplates with different morphologies. By monitoring the reduction of AgNO3 with poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP) in an aqueous solution under hydrothermal condition, we confirmed that etching plays an essential role in promoting the growth of Ag triangular nanoplates with straight edges at the expense of multiple twinned particles (MTPs) via Ostwald ripening. Ultimately, the etching resulted in the formation of enneahedral nanoplates with curved edges that have not been reported previously. For the first time, we also observed selective etching on the side edges in ethanol under a solvothermal condition for the generation of Ag nanoplates with wavy edges. A comparison study of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) indicates that, at the same particle concentration, Ag nanoplates with wavy edges showed an enhancement at least 6 and 13 times stronger than those with straight and curved edges, respectively. The finite difference time domain (FDTD) calculation results support our experimental observations that the sharp features on nanoplates with wavy edges made them the most active SERS substrates.

Role of etching in the formation of Ag nanoplates with straight, curved, and wavy edges and comparison of their SERS properties

247th National Meeting (2014)

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