Novel Chemical Route to Size-Controlled Ta(0) and Ru-Ta Nanoparticles in Ionic Liquids

Abstract

ABSTRACTMetallic nanoparticles under 10 nm are of particular interest for the microelectronics industry. However, there is a lack of convenient synthetic routes to control their size Oxophilic metals, such as Ta, are also of high interest, however, the high oxophilicity and melting point makes the synthesis of such nanoparticles challenging. Making use of imidazolium-based ionic liquids, monodisperse zero-valent tantalum nanoparticles (Ta(0)NPs) have been successfully synthesised at room temperature by reduction of tris(neopentyl)neopentylidenetantalum(V). Furthermore; well size-controlled bimetallic Ru-Ta NPs have also been synthesized.