Rapid synthesizing of gold nanobipyramids

We report on a rapid method to synthesize gold nanobipyramids that utilizes a hexagonal liquid crystal as a frame, suggesting a liquid crystal accelerated growth process. The method represents an improvement in processing time as compared to previously reported methods. Furthermore, as the bulk of the total processing time is required by a purification step, the method presented in this paper holds the promise of an order of magnitude improvement of processing time by further optimization of the growth process that would eventually eliminate the need for purification.