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Shaping binary metal nanocrystals through epitaxial seeded growth

Nature Materials volume 6, pages 692–697 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

Morphological control of nanocrystals has become increasingly important, as many of their physical and chemical properties are highly shape dependent. Nanocrystal shape control for both single- and multiple-material systems, however, remains empirical and challenging. New methods need to be explored for the rational synthetic design of heterostructures with controlled morphology. Overgrowth of a different material on well-faceted seeds, for example, allows for the use of the defined seed morphology to control nucleation and growth of the secondary structure. Here, we have used highly faceted cubic Pt seeds to direct the epitaxial overgrowth of a secondary metal. We demonstrate this concept with lattice-matched Pd to produce conformal shape-controlled core–shell particles, and then extend it to lattice-mismatched Au to give anisotropic growth. Seeding with faceted nanocrystals may have significant potential towards the development of shape-controlled heterostructures with defined interfaces.

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Figure 1: Electron microscopy characterization of the shaped binary metal nanocrystals.
Figure 2: Phase constructions of a Pt/Pd cube showing a coherent and epitaxial interface between the cubic Pt core and Pd shell.
Figure 3: Epitaxial overgrowth of lattice-mismatched Au on cubic Pt seeds to give anisotropic growth of Au rods.
Figure 4: Catalytic activity of the Pt/Pd binary metal nanocrystals.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the US Department of Energy under Contract #DE-AC02-05CH11231. All TEM investigations, with the exception of those done on the Tecnai G2 S-Twin, were carried out at the National Center for Electron Microscopy, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. We would also like to thank T. R. Kuykendall for the SEM work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94720, USA

    Susan E. Habas, Hyunjoo Lee, Gabor A. Somorjai & Peidong Yang

  2. Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, California 94720, USA

    Susan E. Habas, Hyunjoo Lee, Velimir Radmilovic, Gabor A. Somorjai & Peidong Yang

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  1. Susan E. Habas
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Correspondence to Peidong Yang.

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Habas, S., Lee, H., Radmilovic, V. et al. Shaping binary metal nanocrystals through epitaxial seeded growth. Nature Mater 6, 692–697 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat1957

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