LAUSR

Noble metal nanostructures currently have a wide range of applications in the fields of chemistry, catalysis, electronics, bio-science, and medicine [1]. For example, Au nanoparticles can be used for the detection of biological and chemical analytes using various sensing modalities (e.g., Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS)). The fabrication of homogeneous arrays of metal nanoparticles of the desired size, shape, and composition is of importance in achieving and maintaining nanostructures with certain physical properties. In addition to light-mediated syntheses [1] which allows for the production of a monodisperse population of nanoparticles in solution, homogenous and periodically distributed arrays of hexagonal metallic nanoplates can also be fabricated using a room temperature light-activated growth mode performed on seeds immobilized on a crystalline substrate [2]. The latter synthesis is reliant on the formation of Au seeds exhibiting planar defects, whereby the desired growth mode is deactivated without such defects.