A faceted, approximately equiaxed crystal is indicated. A truncated octahedron bounded by low-energy and facets is a plausible three-dimensional shape for an fcc metal particle; the hexagonal section alone does not uniquely distinguish it from other faceted polyhedra.
The Wulff construction minimizes at fixed particle volume. Place a plane with normal a distance from a common centre and take the inner envelope. Low-surface-energy orientations survive as large facets. Annealing permits diffusion toward this equilibrium morphology, provided the time is sufficient. For a supported or strained alloy, substrate adhesion and elastic energy modify this simple free-particle construction.
Three suitable examples are cubes bounded mainly by facets, octahedra bounded by facets, and truncated octahedra bounded by both and facets. These are crystallographically distinct shapes rather than three arbitrary rounded particle outlines.
At fixed volume the thermodynamic equilibrium shape minimizes , with an edge/corner correction when particles are very small. In the Wulff construction, facet support-plane distances scale as their interfacial free energies. Silver's clean low-index energies, selective adsorption of ligands or ions, solvent chemical potential and possible support contact alter those energies. Crystal twinning and elastic strain can add further costs or stabilize multiply twinned forms. A face with slow attachment kinetics can also survive during growth even when that morphology is not the thermodynamic equilibrium Wulff shape. Homogeneous nucleation describes where nuclei form; it does not guarantee an thermodynamic equilibrium final shape.