Surfactant-assisted electrochemical method for dendritic silver nanocrystals with advanced structure

In this communication we report a surfactant assisted electrochemistry method for the fabrication of novel dendritic single-crystalline silver nanocrystals with advanced structure. The individual Ag dendrites have two-dimensional (2D) structures with one trunk (long axis) and branches (short axes). The nanorods in each branch are parallel to each other and in the same plane, and make an angle of about 60 degrees with the trunk. The length of the trunk and the diameter of the branches of the Ag dendrites are about 1-2 mu m and 40-100 nm, respectively. More interestingly, during the process of growth of silver nanocrystal, each branch can also be a trunk to support the growth of silver nanorods. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.