Surface diffusion versus atomic addition: using temperature to maneuver the morphology of Pd nanostructures by seeded-growth

We report herein the synthesis of Pd nanostructures ~64–95-nm range in size displaying controlled surface morphologies by a seeded-growth method employing Pd nanoparticles as seeds. Interestingly, we found that the surface texture and thus the surface area of the produced Pd nanomaterials could be tuned by varying the seeded-growth temperature. Pd nanostructures displaying increasingly higher surface textures were obtained as the seeded-growth temperature was decreased from 95 to 30 °C. These results could be explained based on the variations in the relative rates of atom deposition (V deposition) and surface diffusion (V diffusion) during the Pd growth. The catalytic activities of the Pd nanostructures toward the reduction of 4-nitrophenol augmented with the increase in the surface texture of the produced nanostructures. The results presented herein can have important implications for designing facile approaches to the synthesis of Pd nanostructures with desired features and optimized catalytic performances that can be highly accessible and attractive for large scale production.