Galvanic Displacement-Mediated Growth

In the experimental strategies to develop fully metal-based single or hetero-nanoarchitectures, one main procedure, often unintentionally employed, is represented by galvanic displacement which consists in the deposition of a solution-dispersed less active metal (a noble metal as Au, Pd, and Pt) onto a more active metal core (a less noble metal as Ag). Via red-ox permutation additional metal ions, after precipitation onto formerly nucleated metal nanoparticle. 

When displacement reactions are associated with electroless deposition of silver, exotic coaxially-organized heterostructures, characterized by hybrid chemical compositions, are generated [17, 125]. The heterostructures present a concentric topology of the various metals, a sort of Matrioshka arrangement known as nanorattles as defined by the same authors [17], Different shape and material configurations have been reported in literature, for instance onto spherical AuAg alloy core NCs, Ag could be deposited by chemical reduction promoted by ascorbic acid at high temperatures and water environment, afterwards, a redox displacement HAuCU-promoted altered the silver shell composition 

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