Morphological evolution of Pd nanoparticles was studied in a solution-phase synthesis using cetyltrimethylammonium bromide （CTAB） and CTAB/sodium citrate mixture as capping agents, respectively. The morphological diversity of Pd nanoparticles is the combined effect of different Pd twinned seeds formed in the nucleation stage and selectively enlarging one set of crystallographic facets in the growth stage, both of which can be affected by the concentrations of CTAB. Through changing the concentrations of CTAB and sodium ascorbate, Pd nanoparticles with different shapes were obtained. When citrate ions were introduced to manipulate the nucleation and growth process, star-shaped icosahedra and nanorods with pentagram cross-sections were obtained. Pd nanoparticles with different shapes have quite different surface plasmon resonance and surface-enhanced Raman scattering properties.
Ag dendritic nanostructures were synthesized on fluorine-doped tin oxide covered glass sub- strates by the electrodeposition method. Results demonstrate that the size, diameter, crys- tallinity, and branch density of the Ag dendrites can be controlled by the applied potential, the surfactants and the concentration of AgNO3. Three kinds of typical silver dendrites were applied as substrates of the surface enhanced Raman scattering （SERS） and one of them was able to clearly detect rhodamine 6G concentrations up to 0.1 nmol/L. The differences of the SERS spectra at these Ag dendrites confirmed that the shapes and interparticle spacings have great effect on Raman enhancement, especially the interparticle spacings.
