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This technology has ultrathin layers of nanoboxes with well-defined openings at the corners providing a competitive edge over current technologies.
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Background: Gold nanostructures have excellent optical properties, namely localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR), which makes them suitable for a broad range of applications. The LSPR of Au nanostructures can be manipulated by tuning its shape, size, wall thickness, and other features. Currently, nanoboxes (hollow nanocubes) are limited to wall thicknesses above 5 nm due to process limitations. Nanocages (hollow interiors and porous walls) further extend the tunable LSPR range, but it has been difficult to produce nanocubes with sharp corners and small sizes due to complications inherent to the galvanic replacement, alloying, and dealloying processes required. Technology: Dong Qin, Xiaojun Sun, and Junki Kim from the School of Materials Science and Engineering at Georgia Tech have developed a simple method of fabricating Au/Pt/Pd-based nanoboxes as small as 20 nm for the outer edge length, together with well-defined openings at the corners and walls with fewer than ten atomic layers (or