https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2011-20126-0
Regular Article
Palladium nano-clusters grown on prestructured HOPG substrates
1
IS2M LRC CNRS 7228 - UHA, 15 rue Jean Starcky, 68057
Mulhouse,
France
2
ICMP, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne,
1015
Lausanne,
Switzerland
a e-mail: regis.stephan@uha.fr
Received:
24
February
2011
Received in final form:
4
May
2011
Published online:
28
June
2011
The growth of Palladium nano-clusters prepared by atomic beam deposition on prestructured highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) surfaces has been investigated by means of scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM). Preformed nanosized pits created on the HOPG surfaces are used as localized pinning sites for Pd cluster nucleation and growth at room temperature. We succeeded in obtaining Pd clusters of nanometric size and with rather sharp size distributions. A systematic morphological study conducted by STM reveals a linear dependence between the height and the diameter of the Pd nanostructures. Finally, Pd nano-clusters stabilized on prestructured HOPG surfaces were found to be active catalysts in the Heck cross-coupling reaction.
© EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica and Springer-Verlag 2011
