Issue 36, 2015

Fundamental growth principles of colloidal metal nanoparticles – a new perspective

Abstract

In the past few decades, much effort was put into the development of synthetic strategies to produce nanoparticles of different sizes and morphologies and a large number of scientific contributions is dedicated to the characterization and application of metal nanoparticles. In contrast, only few studies deal with particle formation mechanisms. As a consequence, theoretical concepts that describe particle growth processes are very rare and the few existing models are hardly able to explain how synthesis parameters influence the final particle size distribution. This contribution discusses recent experimental results from which a novel growth concept based on colloidal stability is deduced. The growth concept is in contrast to nucleation models and allows a description of colloidal growth processes from a different perspective. It states that for most syntheses the minimal particle size is rather determined by colloidal than thermodynamic stability making a nucleation model irrelevant.

Graphical abstract: Fundamental growth principles of colloidal metal nanoparticles – a new perspective

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Highlight
Submitted
26 May 2015
Accepted
22 Jun 2015
First published
23 Jun 2015
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

CrystEngComm, 2015,17, 6809-6830

Fundamental growth principles of colloidal metal nanoparticles – a new perspective

J. Polte, CrystEngComm, 2015, 17, 6809 DOI: 10.1039/C5CE01014D

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