Ag nanostructures with various shapes created through degradation of rods

► A polyol synthesis created uniform silver nanostructures with various shapes. ► Twinned seeds play an important role for fabricating Ag rods. ► The rods degraded via the etching process of O2/Cl−. ► Uniform Ag cubes could be created by adjusting NaCl concentrations. ► The size of the cubes depended on PVP concentrations during preparation.