Template-Assisted Growth of Hexagonal Poly- or Single-Crystalline Quasi-2D Palladium Nanoparticles

Reducing the dimensionality can dramatically improve the physical properties of some compounds. Quasi two-dimensional palladium nanoparticles have been obtained using a graphite lattice as a template. The hexagonal symmetry of the carbon host lattice was found to impose a hexagonal symmetry on the Pd atoms (see Figure; the black dots are the Pd atoms), producing a commensurate superstructure of the host.