Ultrafast growth of highly branched palladium nanostructures for catalysis

Palladium is widely used as a catalyst in pharmaceutical and chemical syntheses as well as in the reduction of harmful exhaust emissions. Therefore, the development of high performance palladium catalysts is an area of major concern. In this paper, we present the synthesis of highly branched palladium nanostructures in a simple solution phase reaction at room temperature. By varying the nature of the organic stabilizer system we demonstrate control over the reaction kinetics and hence the shape of the nanostructures. Investigations into the structural evolution of the nanostructures show that they form from multiply twinned face centered cubic (fcc) nanoparticle nuclei. Reaction kinetics then determine the resulting shape where ultrafast growth is shown to lead to the highly branched nanostructures. These results will contribute greatly to the understanding of complex nanoparticle growth from all fcc metals. The nanostructures then show excellent catalytic activity for the hydrogenation of nitrobenzene to aniline.