Journal of Materials Research
November 2005— Volume 20, Number 11

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Preparation of polymer-covered metal nanorods and metal microcrystals by intrinsic two-dimensional crystalline lattice templating Alexandru C. Pavel Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712-0165 Dwight K. Romanovicz Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712-0165 Miguel J. Yacaman Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712-0231; and Texas Materials Institute, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712-1063 John T. McDevitt Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712-0165; Center for Nano- and Molecular Science and Technology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712-1063; and Texas Materials Institute, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712-1063

Two-dimensional layered ceramics, highly anisotropic materials in terms of structure and properties, were used to produce polymer-covered metal nanorods and metal microcrystals. The procedure took advantage of the intrinsic planar, layered ordering of the metal cations suitable to be reduced and could be further used to engineer one-dimensional metal alloy nanostructures by appropriate doping of the initial layered ceramic lattice with suitable cationic species. The procedure involved the formation in an intermediate step of a polymer-intercalated ceramic nanocomposite, highly porous to the diffusion of the polymerizable reducing agent, pyrrole. Two structurally similar layered bismuthates, Bi₂Sr₂CaCu₂O_8+δ and Bi₆Sr₂CaO₁₂ and a partially Rh-substituted ceramic, Bi₄Rh₂Sr₂CaO₁₂ were used as the precursor layered ceramics and the reducible metal cations were Cu²⁺, Bi³⁺, and Rh³⁺, respectively. The formation of the polymer-covered metal nanorods and metal microcrystals took place at relatively high temperatures of reaction (325 °C) and long reaction times (10-12 days).

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