Polyol synthesis of palladium hydride: bulk powders vs. nanocrystals.

Palladium is converted into palladium hydride, beta-PdH(x), in polyol solution using NaBH(4) as a hydrogen source; nanocrystalline Pd reacts to form PdH(x) faster and at lower temperatures than bulk Pd, and can be made to release hydrogen to regenerate Pd.

Orthogonal reactivity of metal and multimetal nanostructures for selective, stepwise, and spatially-controlled solid-state modification.

Chemists rely on a toolbox of robust chemical transformations for selectively modifying molecules with spatial and functional precision to make them more complex in a controllable and predictable manner. This manuscript describes proof-of-principle experiments for a conceptually analogous strategy involving the selective, stepwise, and spatially controlled modification of inorganic nanostructures. The key concept is orthogonal reactivity: one component of a multicomponent system reacts with a particular reagent under a specific set of conditions while the others do not, even though they are all present together in the same reaction vessel.

Morphology of nanostructured platinum in mesoporous materials-effect of solvent and intrachannel surface.

An intrachannel surface of host silica was functionalized through the reaction of surface silanol groups with silanes to generate a monolayer of positively charged groups, and together with the strongly adsorbed and negatively charged PtCl6(2-), resulting in nanostructured platinum-mesoporous silica composites. The highly dispersed Pt nanoparticles and nanonetworks are fabricated from (CH3O)3Si(CH2)3N(CH3)3+Cl- functionalized mesoporous silica MCM-48 with H2PtCl6 in ethanol and water solvent, and characterized by PXRD, XAS, TEM, and N2 adsorption. The solvent of H2PtCl6 solution is found to affect the mobility of Pt precursors and the resulting morphology of nanostructured metallic Pt.