The advent of rational synthesis methods has allowed the synthesis of ultra-small supported crystallites with tight size distributions. The uniformity of these &lt; 2nm crystallites means that these systems are ideal for studying fundamental nanoscale effects. One of these effects is the observed oxidation of so-called “noble” metals under ambient conditions, which in the literature has now been observed for Pt by high sensitivity benchtop as well as synchrotron x-ray diffraction.<br/> <br/>This work examines the ambient oxidation of a family (Pt, Pd, Ir, Rh, and Ru) of silica-supported ultrasmall nanoparticles using the combined characterization methods of XRD, STEM, and XAS. Preliminary findings indicate that each of these metals is significantly oxidized under ambient conditions; continuing work quantitatively investigates which oxide phase/s are present, and for selected metals seeks to identify the rate of oxidation.

When noble metals aren’t so noble: Ambient oxidation of ultrasmall nanoparticles

ACS Fall 2021

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