A facile approach for shape selective synthesis of rhodium nanostructures and conductivity studies

Shape selective synthesis of Rh nanostructures has been demonstrated with the help of a single step chemical vapor deposition, where different shapes like cubes at 500 °C, pyramids and hexagons at 500 °C, 700 °C and 900 °C respectively have been obtained as a function of temperature. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and four probe conductivity measurements were used to study the morphology, crystallinity and phase purity of the structures. The conductivity values for as synthesised nanostructures have been obtained in the range of 2-7 kS/cm2. On the basis of the experimental results, from TGA and XPS studies possible mechanistic pathway for the evolution of Rh nanostructures was discussed.