Synthesis of hollow and trimetallic nanostructures by seed-mediated co-reduction.

Coupling seed-mediated co-reduction with galvanic replacement for the first time provides a route to trimetallic (Ag-Au-Pd) nanostructures with hollow interiors. Moreover, manipulating the synthetic conditions can suppress galvanic replacement and facilitate formation of trimetallic core@shell (Ag@Au-Pd) nanostructures. These results illustrate the role of seed composition in the synthesis of architecturally defined multimetallic nanostructures by seed-mediated co-reduction.