Synthesis and characterization of rhodium nanoparticles using HREM techniques

In the present paper, we report the growth of rhodium nanoparticles passivated with n-alkyl thiol molecules using a new synthesis method which is a variation of the Brust phase transfer method. Our method yields extremely small nanoparticles ranging from 1-3 nm in diameter. Depending on the preparation, rhodium nanoparticles are very interesting for many potential applications; however, they are among the less understood noble metal nanoparticles. The synthesized nanoparticles were characterized by high resolution electron microscopy (HREM). This is the first report on the formation of many of the rhodium nanoparticle structures described herein.