Growth of Anisotropic Platinum Nanostructures Catalyzed by Gold Seed Nanoparticles

This paper reports an effective method for the synthesis of platinum nanostructures with anisotropic morphologies by decomposition of platinum dichloride in oleylamine at intermediate temperatures catalyzed by gold seed nanoparticles. A small quantity of spherical gold nanoparticles formed in situ was used to trigger the nucleation and anisotropic growth of the Pt nanocrystals. By varying the amount of gold seed nanoparticles, porous flower-like, irregular polyhedron-shaped, multi-branched rod shaped, and caterpillar-like Pt nanostructures were produced in high yields at 190-240 degrees C in reaction times of a few minutes. Control of morphology under different conditions has been systematically studied and a kinetically controlled induced growth mechanism has been proposed.