Size Control in the Colloidal Synthesis of Plasmonic Magnesium Nanoparticles
Elizabeth R. Hopper, Thomas M. R. Wayman, Jérémie Asselin, Bruno Pinho, Christina Boukouvala, Laura Torrente‐Murciano, Emilie Ringe
Abstract
at longer reaction times of 17 h. Intermediate sizes up to 400 nm were further selected via the overall reaction concentration or using other metal salt additives with different reduction potentials. Significantly larger particles of over a micrometer were produced by reducing the reaction temperature and, thus, the nucleation rate. We showed that increasing the solvent coordination reduced Mg NP sizes, while scaling up the reaction reduced the mixing efficiency and produced larger NPs. Surprisingly, varying the relative amounts of Mg precursor and electron carrier had little impact on the final NP sizes. These results pave the way for the large-scale use of Mg as a low-cost and sustainable plasmonic material.