Template-directed growth from small clusters into uniform silver nanoparticles

A separate two-step process with a rapid nucleation and a subsequent template-directed growth has been employed to synthesize uniform Ag nanoparticles, which avoids a classical un-refrained ripening process resulting in a wide size distribution. Some silver nanocrystallites prepared by this approach are particularly interesting because of their unusual nanostructures with multiple nanostripes caused by stacking faults.