Nanomorphology characterization of sterically stabilized polypyrrole-palladium nanocomposite particles

Nanomorphology of sterically stabilized polypyrrole-palladium nanocomposite particles has been extensively characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). High-resolution TEM studies revealed that non-spherical nanocomposite particles were produced with a Heywood diameter of ∼30 nm and also confirmed the existence of palladium nanocrystals with a diameter of 5.4 nm within the particles. SAXS studies on aqueous dispersions of the nanocomposite particles confirmed good colloidal stability and revealed 5.0 and 23 nm as average diameters for the Pd nanoparticles and the nanocomposite particles, respectively.