The fabrication and optical property of silver nanoplates with different thicknesses

A new and facile method involving an ion milling technique to fabricate silver nanoplates with different thicknesses is introduced. The thickness of the silver nanoplates can be tuned from 70 to 10 nm by controlling the ion milling time. The experimental and calculated results demonstrate that this thickness control allows continuous tuning of the localized surface plasmon resonance wavelength of the silver nanoplates throughout the visible. This is highly beneficial for potential applications of silver nanoplates in the fields of biosensors and solar cells.