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2007, 111, 3548-3550 Published on Web 02/09/2007
Growth and Properties of Superconducting Anisotropic Lead Nanoprisms Xiao-Min Lin,*,†,‡,§ Helmut Claus,† Ulrich Welp,† Igor S. Beloborodov,† Wai-Kwong Kwok,† George W. Crabtree,† and Heinrich M. Jaeger| Materials Science DiVision, Chemistry DiVision, and Center for Nanoscale Materials, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439, and The James Franck Institute, UniVersity of Chicago, 929 East 57th Street, Chicago, Illinois 60637 ReceiVed: NoVember 22, 2006
Anisotropic Pb nanoprisms were synthesized using high-temperature polyol reduction of lead acetylacetonate through a kinetically controlled synthesis. Transmission electron microscopy showed that the majority of the prisms grows along {111} planes. Selected area electron diffraction (SAED) on single prism revealed that the anisotropic growth is due to twinning in the growing nuclei. Magnetic measurements on a colloidal deposited film exhibited a large magnetic hysteresis that is due to the penetration and pinning of magnetic flux. This flux trapping behavior could be due to a possible transition from type I to type II superconductor given the finite thickness of the prisms (
