Recent advancements in coinage metal nanostructures and bio-applications

Abstract

Coinage metals are best known for their monetary, adorning, and metallurgical values from a historical perspective, while their metal nanostructures and applications may be considered as products of modern science since the potential of nanotechnology has only been realized in recent years. Coinage metal nanostructures possess noteworthy properties such as size- and shape-dependent catalytic, optical, electrical, and chemical properties. Each of these attributes has inspired significant investigation toward the design and synthesis of coinage metal nanostructures as well as their potential application. For these reasons, this review summarizes the recent development of coinage metals such as Cu, Ag, Au, and their bimetallic nanostructures, particularly using solution-based approaches. It covers various synthetic methodologies including standard protocols as well as recent strategies that have been implemented to improve the functionality by effectively controlling the size, morphology, and composition of the coinage metal nanostructures. It also highlights the applications of these coinage metal nanostructures in bio-applications such as antibacterial activities, surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS)-based detection, and electrochemical sensing. Moving forward, this review provides a brief discussion on the challenges and future directions of these promising metal nanostructures, which will be essentially useful in designing new nanostructures for better functionalities in the future.