Preparation of saline-stable, silica-coated triangular silver nanoplates of use for optical sensing

- Methods for silica coating spherical silver nanoprisms were found to be unsuitable for triangular nanoplates.
- Two successful strategies developed for coating triangular silver nanoplates.
- Silica shells prevent etching of nanoplates in presence of chloride anions.
- Salt stability enables wider application of silver nanoplates in biosensing.
- Optical sensitivity retained for nanoplates with thin shells.