Expanding the boundaries of metal deposition: High aspect ratio silver nanoplatelets created by merging nanobelts

Metal nanoplatelets (NPLs) display an important class of nanomaterials, whose morphological diversity is limited due to the uniform mechanisms governing their growth. Here, we introduce a new electroless plating (EP) strategy based on a metal complex surfactant, which is capable of producing a variety of previously undescribed silver NPL architectures. Our NPL formation can be understood as a unique example of space-filling dendritic growth....