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Contact: Diana Lutz
dlutz@wustl.edu
314-935-5272
Washington University in St. Louis
Caption: Start with a silver (grey) nanocube with clipped corners. Dunk the cube in chloroauric acid (HAuCl4). Because gold (yellow) has greater affinity for electrons than does silver, the gold ions will pull electrons from the silver and precipitate on the silver cube. As this process continues, the silver cube is eroded from within, the silver ions leaving through pores that open in the clipped corners of the cube. As the gold skin approaches the desired thickness, the triangular corners become squared-off holes, a slightly more favorable configuration energetically.
Credit: Younan Xia, Washington University in St. Louis
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