title: An experimental and theoretical investigation of the anisotropic branching in gold nanocrosses.
abstract: In this work, copper (Cu) species were used as reducing reagents in the colloidal preparation of novel cross-shaped gold (Au) nanostructures in oleylamine. The reduction rate can be controlled through an appropriate choice of Cu species to obtain Au nanocrosses of varying sizes. It was found that the presence of Cu species during the nucleation stage is crucial to the formation of a branched morphology. Further analysis revealed that the four primary branches of the Au nanocrosses grow along the <110> and <001> directions, and that secondary branched growth occurs along the <111> direction. First-principles calculations and phase-field models were used to rationalize the observed preferential branching and understand the morphological evolution of the nanocrosses. These unique cross-like Au nanostructures exhibit strong NIR absorption and remarkable plasmonic properties that make them promising materials for optical and biomedical applications.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Materials Research and Engineering, A*STAR, 2 Fusionopolis Way, Innovis, 138634, Singapore. my-han@imre.a-star.edu.sg.
authors.forename: Enyi
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.affiliation: Institute of Materials Research and Engineering, A*STAR, 2 Fusionopolis Way, Innovis, 138634, Singapore. my-han@imre.a-star.edu.sg.
authors.forename: Michelle D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Regulacio
authors.affiliation: Institute of High Performance Computing, A*STAR, 1 Fusionopolis Way, 138632, Singapore. zhangyw@ihpc.a-star.edu.sg.
authors.forename: Madurai S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Bharathi
authors.affiliation: Institute of High Performance Computing, A*STAR, 1 Fusionopolis Way, 138632, Singapore. zhangyw@ihpc.a-star.edu.sg.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.affiliation: Institute of Materials Research and Engineering, A*STAR, 2 Fusionopolis Way, Innovis, 138634, Singapore. my-han@imre.a-star.edu.sg.
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Institute of Materials Research and Engineering, A*STAR, 2 Fusionopolis Way, Innovis, 138634, Singapore. my-han@imre.a-star.edu.sg.
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bosman
authors.affiliation: Institute of Materials Research and Engineering, A*STAR, 2 Fusionopolis Way, Innovis, 138634, Singapore. my-han@imre.a-star.edu.sg.
authors.forename: Khin Yin
authors.initials: KY
authors.lastname: Win
authors.affiliation: Institute of High Performance Computing, A*STAR, 1 Fusionopolis Way, 138632, Singapore. zhangyw@ihpc.a-star.edu.sg.
authors.forename: Hariharaputran
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ramanarayan
authors.affiliation: Institute of Materials Research and Engineering, A*STAR, 2 Fusionopolis Way, Innovis, 138634, Singapore. my-han@imre.a-star.edu.sg.
authors.forename: Shuang-Yuan
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Materials Research and Engineering, A*STAR, 2 Fusionopolis Way, Innovis, 138634, Singapore. my-han@imre.a-star.edu.sg.
authors.forename: Xian Jun
authors.initials: XJ
authors.lastname: Loh
authors.affiliation: Institute of High Performance Computing, A*STAR, 1 Fusionopolis Way, 138632, Singapore. zhangyw@ihpc.a-star.edu.sg.
authors.forename: Yong-Wei
authors.initials: YW
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Materials Research and Engineering, A*STAR, 2 Fusionopolis Way, Innovis, 138634, Singapore. my-han@imre.a-star.edu.sg.
authors.forename: Ming-Yong
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Han