Ligand-assisted etching: the stability of silver nanoparticles and the generation of luminescent silver nanodots

Abstract

The etching mechanism of silver nanoparticles was investigated. Though a strong binding agent to silver and an oxidising agent synergistically etch the nanoparticles, the balanced etching power has to be optimized to generate luminescent silver nanodots. This indicates that active centres facilitate the formation of nanodots.