Morphology tuning of noble metal nanoparticles by diffusion–reaction control

Abstract

Controlling the morphology of noble metal nanoparticles can be an effective way to produce nanomaterials with favourable properties. Herein, we report our study on the effects of diffusion rate and reaction kinetics on the morphology of a number of noble metal (Au, Ag, Pd, and Pt) nanoparticles. A glass reactor based on electrochemical reduction or photo-reduction has been designed to achieve control of diffusion and chemical reduction of the different noble metal precursors. The results show that the noble metal nanoparticles with flower-like, core–shell, or wheel-like morphologies could be obtained at a relatively high diffusion rate due to the presence of additional growth of metal precursors on the preformed metal nuclei, while at relatively low diffusion, the as-prepared noble metal nanoparticles are small and quasi-spherical due to the relatively fast reduction of metal precursors. The experimental observations are also confirmed qualitatively by kinetic Monte Carlo (kMC) simulations. Since diffusion and reaction kinetics are universal and key factors in the synthesis of nanomaterials, the findings in this work might provide an effective way to manipulate the morphology of nanomaterials for a given application.