Electronically Driven Fragmentation of Silver Nanocrystals Revealed by Ultrafast Electron Crystallography

We report an ultrafast electron diffraction study of silver nanocrystals under surface plasmon resonance excitation, leading to a concerted fragmentation. By examining simultaneously transient structural, thermal, and Coulombic signatures of the prefragmented state, an electronically driven nonthermal fragmentation scenario is proposed.
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