Controlling the size and morphology of Au@Pd core-shell nanocrystals by manipulating the kinetics of seeded growth

This article reports a systematic study of the seed-mediated growth of Au@Pd core-shell nanocrystals with a variety of controlled sizes and morphologies. The key to the success of this synthesis is to manipulate the reaction kinetics by tuning a set of reaction parameters, including the type and concentration of capping agent, the amount of ascorbic acid used as the reducing agent, and the injection rate used for the precursor solution. Starting from Au nanospheres of 11 nm in diameter as the seeds, Au@Pd core-shell nanocrystals with a number of morphologies, including octahedra, concave octahedra, rectangular bars, cubes, concave cubes, and dendrites, could all be obtained by simply altering the reaction rate. For the first time, it was possible to generate Au@Pd nanocrystals with concave structures on the surfaces while their sizes were kept below 20 nm. In addition, the as-prepared Au@Pd nanocubes can be used as seeds to generate Au@Pd@Au and Au@Pd@Au@Pd nanocrystals with multishelled structures.