Ordering of silver flowerlike nanosheet structures on an aluminium substrate

Abstract We present a facile method for ordering flowerlike structures of silver nanosheets on an aluminium covered surface. It is shown that using a combination of electron-beam lithography and standard silver mirror reaction, structures of silver nanosheets can be grown at predefined positions as single or multiple “flowers”, depending on the underling bare aluminium pattern. Arbitrary shaped areas, defined by electron-beam lithography, can be covered with closely packed silver nanosheets.