Superlattices of platinum and palladium nanoparticles

We have used a nonionic inverse micelle synthesis technique to form nanoclusters of platinum and palladium. These nanoclusters can be rendered hydrophobic or hydrophilic by the appropriate choice of capping ligand. Unlike Au nanoclusters, Pt nanoclusters show great stability with thiol ligands in aqueous media. Alkane thiols, with alkane chains ranging from C-6 to C-18, were used as hydrophobic ligands, and with some of these we were able to form two-dimensional and/or three-dimensional superlattices of Pt nanoclusters as small as 2.7 nm in diameter. Image processing techniques were developed to reliably extract from transmission electron micrographs (TEMs) the particle size distribution, and information about the superlattice domains and their boundaries. The latter permits us to compute the intradomain vector pair correlation function of the particle centers, from which we can accurately determine the lattice spacing and the coherent domain size. From these data the gap between the particles in the coherent domains can be determined as a function of the thiol chain length. It is found that as the thiol chain length increases, the interparticle gaps increase more slowly than the measured hydrodynamic radius of the functionalized nanoclusters in solution, possibly indicating thiol chain interdigitation in the superlattices.