Growth of Tetrahexahedral Gold Nanocrystals with High-Index Facets

摘要

Variously shaped nanocrystalline materials have attracted intense attention owing to their shape-dependent properties. The shape-controlled synthesis has been very successful with metal nanocrystals (NCs). Examples include various types of polyhedra, plates, and rods. Most of them are enclosed by low-index facets, such as {111} and {001}. Metal NCs with high-index facets generally exhibit higher catalytic activities than those with only low-index facets, because high-index facets expose high densities of atomic steps. Atoms at these locations are coordinatively unsaturated. They serve as active sites for breaking and forming chemical bonds.