The coating is also independent of the defects in the core as citrate-Au core nanoparticles with numerous twin boundaries also showed similar conformal coatings (Figure ). TEM diffraction of the 10 nm thick-coated particles in Figure showed the presence of Au peaks and a broad amorphous ring (Figure ). The coatings were conformal and pinhole free down to 3 nm shell thickness, which is comparable to silica coatings .