Hierarchical nanoparticle morphology for platinum supported on SrTiO3 (0 0 1): A combined microscopy and X-ray scattering study

The morphology of metal nanoparticles supported on oxide substrates plays an important role in heterogeneous catalysis and in the nucleation of thin films. For platinum evaporated onto SrTiO3 (0 0 1) and vacuum annealed we find an unexpected growth formation of Pt nanoparticles that aggregate into clusters without coalescence. This hierarchical nanoparticle morphology with an enhanced surface-to-volume ratio for Pt is analyzed by grazing incidence small-angle X-ray scattering (GISAXS), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and high-resolution scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The nanoparticle constituents of the clusters measure 2-4 nm in size and are nearly contiguously spaced where the average edge-to-edge spacing is less than 1 nm. These particles make up the clusters, which are 10-50 nm in diameter and are spaced on the order of 100 nm apart.