title: Synthesis and catalytic properties of highly branched palladium nanostructures using seeded growth.
abstract: In order to develop nanocatalysts with enhanced catalytic performance, it is important to be able to synthesize nanocrystals enclosed by high-index surface facets, due to their high density of low coordinated atoms at step, ledge and kink sites. Here, we report a facile seed-mediated route to the synthesis of highly branched Pd nanostructures with a combination of {113}, {115} and {220} high-index surface planes. The size of these nanostructures is readily controlled by a simple manipulation of the seed concentration. The selective use of oleylamine and oleic acid was also found to be critical to the synthesis of these structures, with Pd icosahedra enclosed by low-index {111} facets being produced when hexadecylamine was employed as capping ligand. The structure-property relationship of these nanostructures as catalysts in Suzuki-cross coupling reactions was then investigated and compared, with the high-index faceted branched Pd nanostructures found to be the most effective catalysts.
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical and Physical Sciences, and The MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, Victoria University of Wellington, Kelburn Pde, Wellington 6012, New Zealand.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Graham
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and The Tyndall National Institute, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Collins
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and The Tyndall National Institute, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland.
authors.forename: J D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Holmes
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical and Physical Sciences, and The MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, Victoria University of Wellington, Kelburn Pde, Wellington 6012, New Zealand and School of Chemistry and Mark Wainwright Analytical Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney 2031, Australia. r.tilley@unsw.edu.au.
authors.forename: R D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Tilley