Silver nanocube crystals on titanium nitride buffer layer

Thermally stable cubic silver nanoparticles were grown by simply annealing a silver nano-thickness layer on a crystalline TiN buffer layer deposited on a Si( 1 0 0) substrate. Formation of silver nanocubes was investigated by scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, x-ray diffractometry and UV-visible spectroscopy. The shapes of the silver nanoparticles were controlled by the thickness of the Ag layer. The silver nanocubes were self-ordered single crystals bounded mainly by {1 0 0} facets. It was found that a change in the shape of the nanoparticles from semi-spherical to cubic resulted in a substantial variation of their surface plasmon resonance absorption peak from 410 to 590 nm in wavelength. Since the silver nanocubes with their special shapes were grown at a high temperature, namely, 700 degrees C, on the surface of a buffer layer, their catalytic applications can be very extensive.