Facile synthesis of palladium nanowires by a soft templating method

Very long and thin monocrystalline Pd nanowires were synthesized by decomposition using hydrazine vapour treatment of Pd-2(DBA)(3) confined in the oil phase of a hexagonal mesophase. The mesophase is composed of toluene-swollen tubes, doped with the Pd precursor, stabilized by a monolayer of surfactant and cosurfactant molecules, and arranged on a triangular lattice in water. Our synthesis is selective and the experiments show that both the confinement and the nature of the surfactant are essential to obtain these Pd nanowires.