High-yield water-based synthesis of truncated silver nanocubes

A high-yield water-based hydrothermal synthesis was developed using silver nitrate, ammonia, glucose, and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) as precursors to synthesize truncated silver nanocubes with uniform sizes and in large quantities. With a fixed CTAB concentration, truncated silver nanocubes with sizes of 49.3 ± 4.1 nm were produced when the molar ratio of glucose/silver cation was maintained at 0.1. The sample exhibited (1 0 0), (1 1 0), and (1 1 1) planes on the facets, edges, and corners, respectively. In contrast, with a slightly larger glucose/silver cation ratio of 0.35, well-defined nanocubes with sizes of 70.9 ± 3.8 nm sizes were observed with the (1 0 0) plane on six facets. When the ratio was further increased to 1.5, excess reduction of silver cations facilitated the simultaneous formation of nanoparticles with cubic, spherical, and irregular shapes. Consistent results were obtained from transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and UV-visible absorption measurements.