Pt Nanoparticles via Oil-in-Water Microemulsions Stabilized by a Technical Grade Surfactant: An Economical and Ecological Approach

Abstract

Abstract This study deals with the synthesis of Pt nanoparticles via oil-in-water microemulsions formulated with the technical grade surfactant BIODAC® 510. For this purpose we studied the influence of the Platinum precursor dimethyl(cyclooctadiene)platinum (Pt(COD)Me2) on the phase behavior of the base microemulsion. It was found that the addition of Pt(COD)Me2 has nearly no effect on the phase boundaries even at relatively high concentrations. Small angle X-ray scattering data confirmed that the addition of the metal organyl also does not influence the size of the microemulsion droplets. According to transmission electron microscopy (TEM) the size of the resulting platinum nanoparticles is independent on the amount of Pt(COD)Me2 in the templating microemulsion. This result was rather surprising since it indicates that a greater amount of precursor in the o/w-microemulsion leads to more rather than to larger nanoparticles.