Interesting development—New Scientist reports that two scientists at the University of Ottawa have discovered how to shape nanoparticles with colored light. Amazing indeed…
How many chemists does it take to change an LED light bulb? Two – and they’ve shown that choosing its colour selects the shape of nanoparticles growing out of a solution of silver.
Kevin Stamplecoskie and Juan Scaiano at the University of Ottawa in Ontario, Canada, can grow silver particles shaped as hexagons, rods, triangles, spheres or dodecahedrons by shining green, red, orange, violet and blue light on the liquid respectively.
Being able to select the shape of nanoparticles is important because it changes their properties. For example, silver nanoparticles are used to make bacteria-killing clothing – and truncated triangular particles are the deadliest.