Influence of capping on the atomistic arrangement in palladium nanoparticles at room temperature

CORTHEY, GASTÓN; OLMOS-ASAR, JIMENA A.; CASILLAS, GILBERTO; MARISCAL, MARCELO M.; MEJÍA-ROSALES, SERGIO; AZCÁRATE, JULIO C.; LARIOS, EDUARDO; JOSÉ-YACAMÁN, MIGUEL; SALVAREZZA, ROBERTO C.; FONTICELLI, MARIANO H.

JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY C

AMER CHEMICAL SOC

Año: 2014 vol. 118 p. 24641 - 24647

1932-7447

The role that protecting molecules have on the way that palladium atoms arrange themselves in nanoparticles prepared at room temperature was studied by the analysis of aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy images and atomistic Langevin dynamics simulations. It was found that the arrangement of Pd atoms is less ordered in thiolate-protected nanoparticles than in amine-protected ones. The experimental and theoretical data showed that the disorder in ∼3 nm thiolate-protected particles is promoted by the strong S-Pd bond in the sulfide layer that surrounds the nanoparticles.