Convenient synthesis of silver nanoplates with adjustable size through seed mediated growth approach

Silver nanoplates, with average thickness about 5 nm and average tunable size from 40 to 500 nm, were synthesized via a simple room-temperature solution-phase chemical reduction method in the presence of appropriate concentration of trisodium citrate and silver seeds. The optical in-plane dipole plasmon resonance bands of these silver plates could be tuned from 520 to 1100 nm. Control experiments were explored for understanding of the growth mechanism. It is found that both the amount of citrate ions and the small silver seeds added to the growth solution are the key to controlling the silver nanoplates without changing their thickness and crystal structure. Small silver seeds are found to play an important role in the formation of large thin silver nanoplates when poly(vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP) are used as capping agent.