Dendritic metal nanostructures

1. A method for making dendritic metal nanostructures, comprising:

forming a surfactant structure template in an aqueous solution using a surfactant;

introducing a metal ion from a metal salt and an electron donor species into said aqueous solution containing said surfactant structure template to form a reaction solution; and

reducing said metal ion to form a dendritic metal nanostructure on the surfactant structure template.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the surfactant structure template is selected from the group consisting of a micelle, a liposome, a vesicle, and a membrane.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the surfactant structure template is formed in an aqueous solution with a chemical potential sufficiently different from a chemical potential of the reaction solution to cause aggregation of the surfactant structure templates.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein said surfactant used to form said surfactant structure template is selected from the group consisting of a surfactant that is neutral in aqueous solution and a surfactant that is negatively charged in aqueous solution.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein said surfactant used to form said surfactant structure template is selected from the group consisting of sodium dodecyl sulfate, polyoxyethylene lauryl ether; 1,2-diocatadecanoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine, cholesterol, and an ethylene oxide/propylene oxide block copolymer.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the electron donor species is selected from the group consisting of ascorbic acid, methanol, and ethanol.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the metal salt comprises a salt selected from the group consisting of salts of Pt, Pd, Au, Ag, Ir, Ru, and Rh.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising introducing a photocatalyst into said aqueous solution and irradiating said reaction solution with light of a wavelength that causes electronic excitation of said photocatalyst.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein said photocatalyst is selected from a group consisting of a metalloporphyrin, a metallochlorin, a metallochlorophyll, a metal polypyrrole complex, a metal polypyridine complex, and a metal phenanthroline complex.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein a metal of the metalloporphyrin is selected from the group consisting of Sn, Sb, Ge, Zn, and Mg.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the metal ion has a reduction potential for reduction to a zero-valent state such that reduction of the metal ion by a reduced photocatalyst produces a negative change in free energy.

12. The method of claim 8 , wherein the surfactant structure template is formed in an aqueous solution with a chemical potential sufficiently different from a chemical potential of the reaction solution to cause aggregation of the surfactant structure templates.

13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising irradiating said reaction solution with light to form a dendritic metal nanostructure on a surfactant structure template.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the surfactant structure template is selected from the group consisting of a micelle, a liposome, a vesicle, and a membrane.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein said surfactant used to form said surfactant structure template is selected from the group consisting of a surfactant that is neutral in aqueous solution and a surfactant that is negatively charged in aqueous solution.

16. The method of claim 13 , wherein said surfactant used to form said surfactant structure template is selected from the group consisting of sodium dodecyl sulfate, polyoxyethylene lauryl ether; 1,2-diocatadecanoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine, cholesterol, and an ethylene oxide/propylene oxide block copolymer.

17. The method of claim 13 , wherein the electron donor species is selected from the group consisting of ascorbic acid, methanol, and ethanol.

18. The method of claim 13 , wherein the metal salt comprises a salt selected from the group consisting of salts of Pt, Pd, Au, Ag, Ir, Ru, and Rh.