A research paper from the Wei group has been published in JACS. The article titled “Cooperation of Hot Holes and Surface Adsorbates in Plasmon-Driven Anisotropic Growth of Gold Nanostars” reports a discovery that plasmon-generated hot holes work with surface adsorbates collectively to control the anisotropic growth of gold (Au) nanostructures. Specifically, it is found that hot holes stabilized by surface-adsorbed iodide enable the site-selective oxidative etching of Au0, which leads to non-uniform growths along different lateral directions to form six-pointed Au nanostars. Our studies establish a molecular-level understanding of the mechanism behind the plasmon-driven synthesis of Au nanostars and illustrate the importance of cooperation between charge carriers and surface adsorbates in regulating the morphology evolution of plasmonic nanostructures.
The research was supported by the National Science Foundation, UF Graduate School Fellowship, and Department of Energy Science Graduate Student award.
This work is selected as spotlights by JACS https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/jacs.0c06392