Structural and electrochemical characterisation of Pt and Pd nanoparticles electrodeposited at the liquid/liquid interface

Modifying the liquid/liquid interface: pores, particles and deposition

“…Thus, L/L metal deposition might be expected to follow the Volmer-Weber mode of growth (weak substrate interaction), with small 3-D clusters of deposits seen, rather than smooth 2-D films. To a degree, this statement is consistent with some of the experimental evidence available to date, 14,105 but when considering the subsequent growth of the particles, the apparent uniformity of the deposits formed at the L/L interface is notable. Why is this difference from the case of deposition on a surface such as HOPG seen?…”

“…These advantages of template deposition, over deposition at the unmodified L/L interface, have enabled us to gain some insight into the L/L deposition process using palladium and platinum as ''model'' deposition systems. 14,105,106 Specifically, the first finding was that the g-alumina membranes could indeed be used to localise particle growth within the pores of the membrane. This was proven by taking images of the membrane, in cross-section, using an ultra-microtome to make TEM possible.…”

“…As with the bulk solution case, the particles are able to attain a uniform mean separation, which exposes them to the same mean flux of reactants. This implicitly assumes that the nucleation process is instantaneous: if it is not (as we suspect, given the observed slow kinetics of platinum deposition at the water/DCE interface and the increased coverage of gold seen by Rao et al 80,105 ) the question is, ''what stops particle growth? '', given the apparent uniformity of deposits.…”

In situ XAFS Study of Palladium Electrodeposition at the Liquid/Liquid Interface

“…on a "conventional" electrode surface, in the sense that an electron transfer process results in the formation of a zero valent nucleus, which must rapidly grow to a certain size to become stable. The electrodeposition of a number of metals at the liquid/liquid interface has been reported in the literature including Au, Ag, Pt and Pd [21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28], as reviewed elsewhere [29]. In the case of Au nucleation it has been shown that the lack of defect sites can completely inhibit the nucleation process under certain conditions [30].…”

Synthesis and Assembly of Gold and Iron Oxide Particles Within an Emulsion Droplet; Facile Production of Core@Shell Particles

“…Conversely, electrochemical techniques allow a degree of control over the growth and assembly of the material through the applied potential or template, allowing nanomaterials to be formed at the solidliquid and liquid-liquid (liq-liq) interface [11,12]. The interface between two immiscible liquids offers a defect free, reproducible substrate to grow metals.…”