Synthesis of palladium and palladium sulfide nanocrystals via thermolysis of a Pd–thiolate cluster

A novel one-pot approach to synthesize the tiara-like Pd(II) thiolate complex compound, [Pd(SCH3)2]6 was developed. In this strategy, dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) was used as a thiolate source instead of methyl mercaptan (CH3SH). DMSO was first decomposed into CH3SH and formaldehyde (HCHO); then, the in situ as-formed CH3SH molecules reacted with palladium acetate, and formed [Pd(SCH3)2]6. By tuning the reaction condition, the morphology of the [Pd(SCH3)2]6 assemblies can change from microprism to nanosphere. The characterization of the pyrolysis product demonstrated that these two kinds of [Pd(SCH3)2]6 assemblies with different shapes could further decompose into palladium or palladium sulfides through different pyrolysis conditions.