Eur. Phys. J. D 43, 197-200 (2007)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2007-00111-0

Ru nanoparticles stabilized by organosilane fragments: Influence of the initial Si/Ru ratio and thermal stability

¹ Fritz-Haber-Institute of the Max-Planck-Society, Department for Inorganic Chemistry, Faradayweg 4-6, 14195 Berlin, Germany
² LCOMS, UMR CNRS-CPE 9986, 43 boulevard du 11 novembre 1918, 69616 Villeurbanne, France
³ I.R.C., 2 avenue A. Einstein, 69626 Villeurbanne, France

Corresponding author: ^a pelzer@fhi-berlin.mpg.de

Received: 1 August 2006
Revised: 4 October 2006
Published online: 24 May 2007

Abstract

The decomposition of the organometallic ruthenium precursor [Ru(COD)(COT)] (COD: 1,5-cyclooctadiene; COT: 1,3,5-cyclooctatriene) in mild conditions (20 °C, 3 bar H₂) in n-pentane leads, in the presence of octylsilane (H₃SiC₈H₁₇) to the formation of stable Ru nanoparticles with narrow size distribution. The solids obtained after washing and drying were fully characterized by elemental analysis, TEM with EDX, infra red measurements as well as solid state ¹³C CP-MAS NMR investigations. The influence of the initial octylsilane/Ru(COD)(COT) ratio ranging from 0.2 to 2.0 was studied. It was observed that the size of the nanoparticles decreases with the initial Si/Ru ratio. The thermal stability of these nanoparticles (Si/Ru = 1) was also studied and as expected the size of the particles drastically increases after treatment under H₂ at 500 °C, while surprisingly under neutral atmosphere, there is only a slight increase.