Symmetry-Reduced Metal Nanostructures Offer New Opportunities in Plasmonics and Catalysis

Abstract

Metallic nanoparticles (NPs) display interesting optical and catalytic properties that depend on NP composition, size, shape, and architecture. These NPs and their properties are often defined by the symmetry of the NPs themselves, with many seed-mediated syntheses for metal NPs maintaining the same symmetry between the seed and the resulting NP. However, recent research has shown that the symmetry of NPs can be reduced in a defined manner during seed-mediated syntheses through judicious control of reaction conditions. This ability offers unique and tunable optoelectronic and catalytic properties. In this Perspective, we outline general pathways to obtain NPs with reduced symmetry by seed-mediated methods and the interesting optical and catalytic properties that result from such a reduction in symmetry.