Strong Ligand Control for Noble Metal Nanostructures

ConspectusNanosynthesis is the art of creating nanostructures, with on-demand synthesis as the ultimate goal. Noble metal nanoparticles have wide applications, but the available synthetic methods are still limited, often giving nanospheres and symmetrical nanocrystals. The fundamental reason is that the conventional weak ligands are too labile to influence the materials deposition, so the equivalent facets always grow equivalently. Considering that the ligands are the main synthetic handles in colloidal synthesis, our group has been exploring strong ligands for new growth modes, giving a variety of sophisticated nanostructures. The model studies often involve metal deposition on seeds functionalized with a certain strong ligand, so that the uneven distribution of the surface ligands could guide the subsequent deposition.In this Account, we focus on the design principles underlying the new growth modes, summarizing our efforts in this area along with relevant literature works. The basics of ligand control are first revisited. Then, the four major growth modes are summarized as follows: (1) The curvature effects would divert the materials deposition away from the high-curvature tips when the ligands are insufficient. With ligands fully covering the seeds, the sparser ligand packing at the tips would then promote the initial nucleation thereon. (2) The strong ligands may get trapped under the incoming metal layer, thus modulating the interfacial energy of the core–shell interface. The evidence for embedded ligands is discussed, along with examples of Janus nanostructures arising from the synthetic control, including metal–metal, metal–semiconductor, and metal–C60 systems using a variety of ligands. (3) Active surface growth is an unusual mode with divergent growth rates, so that part of the emerging surface is inhibited, and the growth is focused onto a few active sites. With seeds attached to oxide substrates, the selective deposition at the metal–substrate interface produces ultrathin nanowires. The synthesis can be generally applied to grow Au, Ag, Pd, Pt, and hybrid nanowires, with straight, spiral, or helical structures, and even rapid alteration of segments via electrochemical methods. In contrast, active surface growth for colloidal nanoparticles has to be more carefully controlled. The rich growth phenomena are discussed, highlighting the role of strong ligands, the control of deposition rates, the chiral induction, and the evidence for the active sites. (4) An active site with sparse ligands could also be exploited in etching, where the freshly exposed surface would promote further etching. The result is an unusual sharpening etching mode, in contrast to the conventional rounding mode for minimized surface energy.Colloidal nanosynthesis holds great promise for scalable on-demand synthesis, providing the crucial nanomaterials for future explorations. The strong ligands have delivered powerful synthetic controls, which could be further enhanced with in-depth studies on growth mechanisms and synthetic strategies, as well as functions and properties.