Chemical synthesis and characterization of palladium nanoparticles

Viet Long Nguyen, Duc Chien Nguyen, Hirohito Hirata, Michitaka Ohtaki, Tomokatsu Hayakawa and Masayuki Nogami

Abstract

This work presents the results of the successful preparation of Pd nanoparticles by the polyol method and the proposed techniques of controlling their size and shape. Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) stabilized Pd nanoparticles of various shapes with the largest sizes in the forms of octahedrons (24 nm), tetrahedrons (22 nm) and cubes (20 nm) have been obtained by alcohol reduction in ethanol with the addition of a hydrochloric acid catalyst. Moreover, PVP–Pd nanoparticles of well-controlled spherical shapes have also been prepared by a modified polyol method. PVP–Pd nanoparticles of cubic, octahedral, tetrahedral and spherical shapes with well-controlled size achieved by using ethylene glycol (EG) as reductant and various inorganic species were also fabricated. In particular, Pd nanorods with sizes of 47 nm and 16 nm formed due to the anisotropic growth mechanism of Pd nanoparticles were found. At the same time, tetrahedral particles of sharp shapes of 120 nm and 70 nm sizes have been observed. A high concentration of inorganic species was used to control the size and shape of the Pd nanoparticles, leading to the appearance of various irregular sizes and shapes. There was evidence of the very sharp corners and edges of tetrahedral and octahedral Pd nanoparticles or others that were formed in the clustering and combination of the seeds of smaller particles