Browsing by Subject "Nanocrystals--Synthesis"
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Item Aspects of colloidal nanocrystals: patterning, catalysis and doping(2005) Stowell, Cynthia Ann; Korgel, Brian AllanItem Design of novel catalysts by infusion of presynthesized nanocrystals into mesoporous supports(2008-08) Gupta, Gaurav, Ph. D.; Johnston, Keith P., 1955-Traditionally, supported metal catalysts have been synthesized by reduction of precursors directly over the support. In these techniques, it is challenging to control the metal cluster size, composition and crystal structure. Herein, we have developed a novel approach to design catalysts with controlled morphologies by infusing presynthesized nanocrystals into the supports. High surface area mesoporous materials, including graphitic carbons, have been utilized for obtaining a high degree of metal dispersion to enhance catalyst stabilities and activities. Gold and iridium nanocrystals have been infused in mesoporous silica with loadings up to 2 wt % using supercritical CO₂ as an antisolvent in toluene to enhance the van der Waals interactions between nanocrystals and the silica. The iridium catalysts show high catalytic activity and do not require high temperature annealing for ligand removal, as ligands bind weakly to the iridium surface. To further enhance metal loadings to >10 % in the catalysts, short-ranged interactions between the metal nanocrystals and the support are further strengthened with weakly binding ligands to expose more of the metal surface to the support. For pre-synthesized FePt nanocrystals, coated with oleic acid and oleylamine ligands, high loadings >10 wt % in mesoporous silica are achieved, without using CO₂. The strong metal-support interactions favor FePt adsorption on the support and also enhance stability against sintering at high temperatures. High resistance to sintering favors formation of the FePt intermetallic crystal structure with <4 nm size upon thermal annealing at 700 °C. The fundamental understanding of the metal-support interactions gained from these studies is then utilized in the design of highly stable Pt and Pt-Cu electrocatalysts with controlled size, composition and alloy structure supported on graphitized mesoporous carbons for oxygen reduction. The resistance of the graphitic carbons to oxidation coupled with strong metal-support interactions mitigate nanoparticle isolation from the support, nanoparticle coalescence, Pt dissolution and subsequent Ostwald ripening and thus enhance catalyst stability. The control of the Pt nanocrystal morphology with high concentrations of highly active (111) surface leads to 25% higher activities than commercial Pt catalysts. Furthermore, the catalyst activities obtained for Pt-Cu catalysts are 4-fold higher than Pt catalysts due to strained Pt shell generated from electrochemical dealloying of copper from the nanoparticle surface.Item Nanocrystal stabilization, synthesis and assembly using supercritical fluids(2003) Shah, Parag Suresh; Johnston, Keith P., 1955-; Korgel, Brian AllanSupercritical and compressed solvents provide a unique medium for nanocrystal synthesis and assembly as their tunable solvation strength and favorable wetting characteristics have the potential to overcome current processing limitations. Here we examine nanocrystal dispersibility, separation, synthesis and organization with compressed solvents. Gold and silver nanocrystals were dispersed in carbon dioxide and ethane by using the appropriate capping ligands. Larger nanocrystals, which exhibit stronger core attractions, required better solvent conditions (higher densities) than smaller nanocrystals in order to form a dispersion. Lowering the solvent density precipitated the largest nanocrystals demonstrating density tunable colloidal separations in supercritical fluids. Silver, iridium and platinum nanocrystals were synthesized in supercritical CO2 by reducing a miscible organometallic precursor. By reducing the precursor in the presence of a thiol, particle growth was quenched and the nanocrystals could be collected, cleaned and redispersed in compatible solvents. Tuning solvent density and ligand type allowed the nanocrystal growth mechanism to be controlled from a mix of coagulation and condensation at conditions of strong steric stabilization, leading to small monodisperse particles, to coagulation at poor stabilization conditions, leading to large polydisperse particles. Superlattice formation was examined by assembling gold nanocrystals from liquid carbon dioxide. The resulting structures varied from disorganized liquids at fast evaporation rates to hexatic states with highly ordered regions at slower evaporation rates. Comparison with a computer simulated reference state showed that the crystallization kinetics were slower than diffusion limited, likely due to ensemble rearrangement during the late stages of assembly. Finally, gold and indium manganese arsenide nanocrystal dispersions were drop-cast from volatile solvents under humid conditions to form macroporous nanocrystal thin films. The porous structures were templated by condensed water droplets as a result of solvent evaporation. Prevention of droplet coalescence by interfacially active nanocrystals, which adsorbed onto the surface of the droplets, led to the formation of highly ordered pore structures.