One step synthesis of hierarchical dendritic Pt nanostructures with a concave Pt octahedron building unit via simultaneous vertex growth and facet etching

Abstract

Hierarchical dendritic nanostructures are rare and are usually synthesized by seed mediated epitaxial growth, which requires understanding of the symmetry-directed growth of the epitaxial layer on the facet-controlled nanocrysalline seed. Such a synthetic protocol involves alternation of the reaction conditions, and the one step synthesis of a hierarchical dendritic structure with exact mother to daughter crystal replication is a rarity. Herein we report a convenient one step synthesis of hierarchical dendritic Pt nanostructures with a concave Pt octahedron building unit by adopting reaction conditions in which Pt nanocrystal growth is extremely slow due to the reduction rate slowing the facet-etching process under an oxidizing atmosphere.