Uniform colloidal synthesis of highly branched chiral gold nanoparticles.

We present a uniform colloidal synthesis of highly branched gold nanoparticles (GNPs) including nanospheres, nanoplatelets and nanorods by cysteine-assisted seeded growth. The highly branched GNPs show blackbody-like absorption and chirality simultaneously, holding great potential for plasmonic or photothermal applications.