Synthesis of Ru/PDMS nano-composites via supercritial deposition

• PDMS-Ru nanoparticle composites were prepared using supercritical deposition.
• PDMS-Ru nanoparticle composites were prepared without using an immobilization agent.
• PDMS films were impregnated with Ru(cod)(tmhd)2 in supercritical CO2.
• The impregnated Ru(cod)(tmhd)2 was then reduced to metallic Ru in flowing N2.
• The resulting Ru nanoparticles were well-dispersed and had diameters of ≈2 nm.

Nanomaterials consisting of Ru nanoparticles dispersed in polydimethylsiloxane films were synthesized by supercritical deposition. The films were impregnated with the organometallic precursor bis(2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-3,5-heptanedionato) (1,5-cyclooctadiene) ruthenium (II) under thermodynamic control in the presence of supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2) at 40 °C and 10.34 MPa. The precursor molecules were then converted to metallic Ru by thermal treatment in flowing N2 at ambient pressure, resulting in well-dispersed nanoparticles with diameters of ≈2 nm.