We report the first discovery of pure face-centered-cubic (fcc) Ru nanoparticles. Although the fcc structure does not exist in the bulk Ru phase diagram, fcc Ru was obtained at room temperature because of the nanosize effect. We succeeded in separately synthesizing uniformly sized nanoparticles of both fcc and hcp Ru having diameters of 2-5.5 nm by simple chemical reduction methods with different metal precursors. The prepared fcc and hcp nanoparticles were both supported on γ-Al2O3, and their catalytic activities in CO oxidation were investigated and found to depend on their structure and size.

Pd(x)Ru(1-x) solid solution alloy nanoparticles were successfully synthesized over the whole composition range through a chemical reduction method, although Ru and Pd are immiscible at the atomic level in the bulk state. From the XRD measurement, it was found that the dominant structure of Pd(x)Ru(1-x) changes from fcc to hcp with increasing Ru content. The structures of Pd(x)Ru(1-x) nanoparticles in the Pd composition range of 30-70% consisted of both solid solution fcc and hcp structures, and both phases coexist in a single particle. In addition, the reaction of hydrogen with the Pd(x)Ru(1-x) nanoparticles changed from exothermic to endothermic as the Ru content increased. Furthermore, the prepared Pd(x)Ru(1-x) nanoparticles demonstrated enhanced CO-oxidizing catalytic activity; Pd0.5Ru0.5 nanoparticles exhibit the highest catalytic activity. This activity is much higher than that of the practically used CO-oxidizing catalyst Ru and that of the neighboring Rh, between Ru and Pd.