Local structural characterization of gold nanowires using extended X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy

Gold nanowires were prepared via seed-mediated growth process. Standard X-ray powder diffraction pattern of nanowires and foil are nearly identical. The intensities of the (2 2 0) and (1 1 1) diffraction peaks was higher than the conventional value, which implied that the nanowires were abundant in {1 1 0} facets. This is in accordance with electron diffraction analysis of mature nanowires, the wires grow along the [1 1 0] directions. X-ray absorption spectroscopy indicates that coordination number of gold nanowires was slightly smaller than that gold foil. Moreover, the Debye–Waller factor of the refinement result of gold nanowires implies that there were some structural defects.