A Mechanistic Study on the Nucleation and Growth of Au on Pd Seeds with a Cubic or Octahedral Shape

Abstract This article reports a systematic study on the seed‐mediated growth of Pd–Au bimetallic nanocrystals with a variety of controlled morphologies. The key to the success of this synthesis is to manipulate the reaction kinetics by controlling a set of experimental parameters, which include the amount of ascorbic acid used as a reductant, the amount of HAuCl 4 as a precursor to elemental Au, the reaction temperature, and the type of seeds employed. Starting from Pd nanocubes of 18 nm in edge length, Pd–Au bimetallic nanocrystals with a number of morphologies, which includes hybrid dimers, core–shell nanocubes with flat faces, and core–shell nanocubes with concave faces could all be obtained by simply speeding up the reduction of HAuCl 4 . The same synthesis and control could also be extended to seeds based on Pd octahedrons. For the first time, it was possible to generate Pd@Au core–shell nanocubes and octahedrons with concave faces. The Pd@Au core–shell nanocubes with concave faces exhibited enhanced activity in catalyzing the oxidization of ascorbic acid relative to their counterparts with flat faces or the cubic Pd seeds.