“Ship‐in‐a‐Bottle” Growth of Noble Metal Nanostructures

Abstract Noble metal nanostructures are grown inside hollow mesoporous silica microspheres using “ship‐in‐a‐bottle” growth. Small Au seeds are first introduced into the interior of the hollow microspheres. Au nanorods with synthetically tunable longitudinal plasmon wavelengths and Au nanospheres are obtained through seed‐mediated growth within the microspheres. The encapsulated Au nanocrystals are further coated with Pd or Pt shells. The microsphere‐encapsulated bimetallic core/shell nanostructures can function as catalysts. They exhibit high catalytic performance and their stability is superior to that of the corresponding unencapsulated core/shell nanostructures in the catalytic oxidation of o ‐phenylenediamine with hydrogen peroxide. Therefore, these hollow microsphere‐encapsulated metal nanostructures are promising as recoverable and efficient catalysts for various liquid‐phase catalytic reactions.