OxidativeEtching and Its Role in Manipulating theNucleation and Growth of Noble-Metal Nanocrystals.

Oxidativeetching plays an important role in the synthesis of metalnanocrystals. This is because the zerovalent species, including atoms,clusters, and nanocrystallites, can all be oxidized back to the ionicform and thus altering the types and distributions of products formedin both the nucleation and growth steps. In the first part of thisreview, we discuss the critical components needed for oxidative etching,as well as methods for enabling or preventing oxidative etching ina synthesis. We then present and analyze a number of interesting experimentalobservations caused by oxidative etching. In the following sections,we highlight four major applications of oxidative etching in the synthesisof metal nanocrystals, with regards to experimental controls overthe crystallinity, size, shape, morphology, and growth kinetics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]