Hydrophilic Pt nanoflowers: synthesis, crystallographic analysis and catalytic performance

Water-soluble Pt nanoflowers (NFs) were prepared by diethylene glycol-mediated reduction of Pt acetylacetonate (Pt(acac)(2)) in the presence of polyethylenimine. Advanced electron microscopy analysis showed that the NFs consist of multiple branches with a truncated cubic morphology and different crystallographic orientations. We demonstrate that the nature of the solvent strongly influences the resulting morphology. The catalytic performance of the Pt NFs in 4-nitrophenol reduction was found to be superior to that of other nanoparticle-based catalysts. Additionally, the Pt NFs display good catalytic reusability with no loss of activity after five consecutive cycles.