An Effective Strategy for Room-Temperature Synthesis of Single-Crystalline Palladium Nanocubes and Nanodendrites in Aqueous Solution

Abstract

Nearly monodisperse single-crystalline palladium (Pd) nanocubes and nanodendrites have been successfully prepared in aqueous solution at room temperature, for the first time, mainly by utilizing the equilibrium between the dissolution and precipitation of the Pd-cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (Pd-CTAB) complexes. The morphology of the obtained Pd nanocrystals can be tuned by the addition of foreign halide ions (Cl− and Br−). The corresponding selected area electron diffraction (SAED) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns confirmed that the synthesis of nanocubes and nanodendrites are single-crystalline pure Pd structures with fcc crystal lattice. A preliminary formation mechanism based on the dissolution and precipitation of the Pd-CTAB complexes and competitive adsorption between different ions on the nanoparticle surface has been proposed.