Abstract Icosahedral nanocrystals of noble metals have received ever increasing interests in recent years owing to their unique features such as the size-dependent distribution of strain fields and the presence of a large number of twin boundaries. In this review, we start with a brief introduction to the strain field distribution on an icosahedral nanocrystal and then we discuss the size-dependent structural thermodynamics, together with remarks on the synthetic approaches to icosahedral nanocrystals of various noble metals in high purity. The recent breakthroughs in synthesis can be attributed to a strong correlation between the kinetics of reduction and the way atoms are assembled in nuclei during homogenous nucleation. We aim to provide a brief account of new developments while highlighting the key experimental parameters that give rise to icosahedral nanocrystals. We focus on monometallic systems based on Au, Ag, Pd, Pt, and Rh, along with some bimetallic systems. At the end, we showcase the performance of icosahedral nanocrystals towards catalytic and photonic applications, and offer some perspectives on future directions.

中文翻译：

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贵金属二十面体纳米晶体：合成与应用

摘要 近年来，贵金属二十面体纳米晶体因其独特的特性，如应变场的尺寸依赖性分布和大量孪晶界的存在而受到越来越多的关注。在这篇综述中，我们首先简要介绍了二十面体纳米晶体上的应变场分布，然后我们讨论了与尺寸相关的结构热力学，以及对各种贵金属高纯度二十面体纳米晶体的合成方法的评论。最近在合成方面的突破可归因于还原动力学与均相成核过程中原子在核中组装的方式之间的强相关性。我们旨在简要介绍新的发展，同时强调产生二十面体纳米晶体的关键实验参数。我们专注于基于 Au、Ag、Pd、Pt 和 Rh 的单金属系统，以及一些双金属系统。最后，我们展示了二十面体纳米晶体在催化和光子应用方面的性能，并提供了一些对未来方向的看法。