High yield synthesis of catalytically active five-fold twinned Pt nanorods from a surfactant-ligated precursorElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c2cc36905b

The CO-assisted thermal decomposition of a new, surfactant-ligated Pt precursor, [Pt(acac)(NHR)] n ( n = 2, 3; R = C 18 H 37 ), gives structurally uniform five-fold twinned Pt nanorods. The Pt nanorods, mostly covered by {100} facets, exhibit much enhanced electrocatalytic activity over {100} faceted Pt nanocubes, indicating the superior catalytic performance due to the presence of the reactive twinning interface. CO assisted reduction of an octadecylamine-ligated Pt precursor produced electrocatalytically active, five-fold twinned {100} Pt nanorods.