Where's the silver? Imaging trace silver coverage on the surface of gold nanorods

The development of the seeded growth synthesis for gold nanorods provided the first simple, convenient wet chemistry route to these nanomaterials. Over the past decade, the original silver-assisted seeded growth procedure has been the subject of further modifications that have continuously expanded access to anisotropic gold nanoparticles; however, the role of silver in formation of gold nanorods remains poorly understood. We report the first experimental evidence on the position of silver present on gold nanorods using advanced energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. Our results indicate the deposition of silver ions on the surface shows no preference for a specific face or axis. Furthermore, we show that the "dog bone" structures developed from gold nanorod solutions show preferential deposition of silver atoms on the ends and in the crevices.