Tips and Tricks for the Surface Engineering of Well‐Ordered Morphologically Driven Silver‐Based Nanomaterials

摘要

Particularly‐shaped silver nanostructures are successfully applied in many scientific fields, such as nanotechnology, catalysis, (nano)engineering, optoelectronics, and sensing. In recent years, the production of shape‐controlled silver‐based nanostructures and the knowledge around this topic has grown significantly. Hence, on the basis of the most recent results reported in the literature, a critical analysis around the driving forces behind the synthesis of such nanostructures are proposed herein, pointing out the important role of surface‐regulating agents in driving crystalline growth by favoring (or opposing) development along specific directions. Additionally, growth mechanisms of the different morphologies considered here are discussed in depth, and critical points highlighted. Box of tricks : The performance of nanomaterials is strictly correlated to their size and morphology; thus, great effort has been devoted to obtaining particularly shaped nanoscopic geometries. The main relevant strategies concerning the growth of particularly shaped metallic nanostructures (and the role of surface‐regulating agents) are discussed in depth. Particular emphasis is devoted to the growth mechanisms involved for silver‐based nanostructures.