Proton beam irradiation induced synthesis of Size- and morphology-controlled Pt nanomaterials in an aqueous solution

Abstract

We present a facile one-pot preparation route for the production of Pt nanomaterials by using a simple proton beam irradiation process at room temperature. Size- and shape-controlled Pt nanoparticles were prepared in an aqueous solution without the addition of any harsh reducing agents. The morphology of the Pt nanoparticles was easily tuned by varying the average beam current and duration time. The addition of isopropyl alcohol to the reaction mixture was observed to have played a vital role in the synthesis of Pt cubes. We found that the shape of the prepared Pt nanoparticles without the addition of isopropyl alcohol was ~99% spheres while Pt nanoparticles synthesized with the addition of isopropyl alcohol under the same reaction conditions was over 70% cubes. The beam irradiation time was also an important factor for optimizing the morphologycontrolled preparation condition for Pt cubes. As the beam irradiation time was increased from 20 min to 120 min, the percentage of cubes increased from 7% to 70%; however, for extended irradiation time, the percentage of cubes fell off.