The synthesis and characterization of platinum nanoparticles: a method of controlling the size and morphology

Abstract

In this paper, Pt nanoparticles with good shapes of nanocubes and nano-octahedra and well-controlled sizes in the range 5-7 and 8-12 nm, respectively, have been successfully synthesized. The modified polyol method by adding silver nitrate and varying the molar ratio of the solutions of silver nitrate and H(2)PtCl(6) has been used to produce Pt nanoparticles of the size and shape to be controlled. The size and morphology of Pt nanoparticles have been studied by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and high resolution TEM (HRTEM). The results have shown that their very sharp and good shapes exist in the main forms of cubic, cuboctahedral, octahedral and tetrahedral shapes directly related to the crystal nucleation along various directions of the [100] cubic, [111] octahedral and [111] tetrahedral facets during synthesis. In particular, various irregular and new shapes of Pt nanoparticles have been found. Here, it is concluded that the role of silver ions has to be considered as an important factor for promoting and controlling the development of Pt nanoparticles of [100] cubic, [111] octahedral and [111] tetrahedral facets, and also directly orienting the growth and formation of Pt nanoparticles.