Js. Bradley et al., Surface spectroscopic study of the stabilization mechanism for shape-selectively synthesized nanostructured transition metal colloids, J AM CHEM S, 122(19), 2000, pp. 4631-4636
Nanoscale palladium and nickel colloids prepared in the presence of certain
tetra-n-octylammonium carboxylates contain a high proportion of nonequilib
rium trigonal cross section particles. Specifically, those carboxylates whi
ch bear a hydroxy function at the a-position, e.g., tetra-n-octylammonium g
lycolate, exert a strong influence on the shape of the metal colloids. It i
s shown by an in situ FTIR study of the preparation of colloidal nickel fro
m bis(cyclooctadiene)nickel in the presence of tetra-n-octylammonium glycol
ate that the interaction of the alpha-hydroxy carboxylate with the surface
of the colloidal metal particle is likely to be the morphology-determining
factor in the shape-selective preparation of these metal particles.