High Yield Seedless Synthesis of High-Quality Gold Nanocrystals with Various Shapes

In this Article, high-quality gold nanocrystals (Au NCs) with various shapes including concave cubic, trisoctahedral, cubic, rod-like, and quasi-spherical have been successfully produced in high yield via adding a trace amount of NaBH₄ solution into growth solutions mainly composed of HAuCl₄, ascorbic acid, and surfactants. The sizes and shapes of as-prepared Au NCs can be tuned by the compositions of the growth solutions and the amount of NaBH₄ added. The electrocatalytic performance of differently shaped Au NCs for methanol oxidation was studied; as-prepared trisoctahedral or concave cubic Au NCs are more highly active electrocatalysts for methanol oxidation due to the presence of high-index facets on their surface