Facile synthesis of silver nanorods/nanowires with sub-20 nm diameter and their trimetallic hollow derivatives using tiny Au seeds

We report a facile synthesis of silver nanorods/nanowires with the diameter in the range of sub-20 nm via seeded growth. The key to the success of this work relies on the use of tiny Au seeds and manipulation over reaction kinetics. In particular, their diameter could be controlled to as small as 12 nm using 5-nm spherical Au seeds. They can be further converted to trimetallic (Au@Ag-Pd) hollow derivatives with tunable hollow degree and elemental compositions by galvanic replacement reaction.