Surfactant-free sub-2 nm ultrathin triangular gold nanoframes

Ultrathin triangular gold nanoframes are synthesized in high yield through selective gold deposition on the edges of triangular silver nanoprisms and subsequent silver etching with mild wet etchants. These ultrathin gold nanoframes are surfactant-free with tailorable ridge thickness from 1.8 to 6 nm and exhibit adjustable and distinct surface plasmon resonance bands in the visible and near-IR region. In comparison, etching of the nanoprism template by galvanic replacement can only create frame structures with much thicker ridges, which have much lower catalytic activity for 4-nitrophenol reduction than the ultrathin gold nanoframes.