Revealing the Synthesis of Triangular Silver Nanoplates: A Study of the Photochemical Growth Mechanism around the pH and Trisodium Citrate Variations

Triangular silver nanoplates (T‐SNPs) are synthesized via a facile, low‐cost photochemical process. It is proved that both the pH and the concentration of trisodium citrate (TSC) are the key factors to describe the mechanism for the photochemical growth and modulation of the extinction band along the formation of T‐SNPs. A precise photoreduction growth mechanism of T‐SNPs is proposed and confirmed by X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) considering the face block theory and the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) in T‐SNPs revealing the optimal conditions for their growth to be at a neutral pH of 7, a concentration between 1.0 and 2.0 m m of TSC preferentially monodentate, and using a 520 nm excitation energy. These results exhibit important implications for the behavior of T‐SNPs in a wide variety of plasmonic applications that can be further moved to controlled surface‐enhanced biomedical applications.