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Freestanding palladium nanosheets with plasmonic and catalytic properties

Nature Nanotechnology volume 6, pages 28–32 (2011)Cite this article

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Abstract

Ultrathin metal films can exhibit quantum size and surface effects that give rise to unique physical and chemical properties1,2,3,4,5,6,7. Metal films containing just a few layers of atoms can be fabricated on substrates using deposition techniques7, but the production of freestanding ultrathin structures remains a significant challenge. Here we report the facile synthesis of freestanding hexagonal palladium nanosheets that are less than 10 atomic layers thick, using carbon monoxide as a surface confining agent. The as-prepared nanosheets are blue in colour and exhibit a well-defined but tunable surface plasmon resonance peak in the near-infrared region. The combination of photothermal stability and biocompatibility makes palladium nanosheets promising candidates for photothermal therapy. The nanosheets also exhibit electrocatalytic activity for the oxidation of formic acid that is 2.5 times greater than that of commercial palladium black catalyst.

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Figure 1: Characterization of ultrathin palladium nanosheets synthesized in the presence of PVP and CTAB in DMF.
Figure 2: TEM images of the palladium nanosheets produced under different reaction conditions.
Figure 3: Optical absorption and photothermal properties of palladium nanosheets.
Figure 4: Comparison of electrocatalytic properties of palladium nanosheets and palladium black.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge helpful discussions with L.S. Zheng, Z.Q. Tian, G.D. Stucky, Z.X. Xie and B.W. Mao. The authors also thank S.W. Boettcher and Z.P. Zheng for suggestions and editing of the English. This work was supported by the NSF of China (20925103, 20871100, 20721001 and 20703032), MOST of China (2009CB930703, 2011CB932403), the Fok Ying Tung Education Foundation (121011), NSF of Fujian for a Distinguished Young Investigator Grant (2009J06005) and the Key Scientific Project of Fujian Province (2009HZ0002-1).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory for Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces and Department of Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005, China

    Xiaoqing Huang, Shaoheng Tang, Xiaoliang Mu, Yan Dai, Guangxu Chen, Zhiyou Zhou & Nanfeng Zheng

  2. Department of Physics, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005, China

    Fangxiong Ruan & Zhilin Yang

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  1. Xiaoqing Huang
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  4. Yan Dai
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  5. Guangxu Chen
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  7. Fangxiong Ruan
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  9. Nanfeng Zheng
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Contributions

X.Q.H. performed the experiments, collected and analysed the data, and wrote the paper. S.H.T. carried out the apoptosis assay and in vitro photothermal therapy tests. X.L.M. was responsible for AFM analysis. Y.D. and G.X.C. helped with synthesis of the materials. Z.Y.Z. helped with the electrochemical and FTIR measurements. F.X.R. and Z.L.Y. carried out the calculations of extinction spectra. N.F.Z. conceived the experiments, planned the synthesis, analysed the results and wrote the paper.

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Correspondence to Nanfeng Zheng.

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Huang, X., Tang, S., Mu, X. et al. Freestanding palladium nanosheets with plasmonic and catalytic properties. Nature Nanotech 6, 28–32 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2010.235

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