Truncated trisoctahedral and octahedral Pt–Au alloy nanocrystals were synthesized by reducing the H₂PtCl₆–HAuCl₄ mixture in TEG under microwave irradiation for 140 s. Iodide ions were critical to their synthesis.

Well-defined highly branched hierarchical tetrapod Pd nanocrystals with mutually embedded metameres were successfully synthesized with Pd(acac)₂ as a precursor and CO as a reducing agent in the presence of SDS. SDS played an essential role in controlling the hierarchical tetrapod morphologies of the final products. The formation of the hierarchical Pd tetrapods was ascribed to the SDS-confined growth from the four tips along the directions. The as-prepared hierarchical Pd nanostructures demonstrated outstanding electrocatalytic activity.

Co ₃ O ₄ templated from mesoporous silica show stable and better activity for CO oxidation than that synthesized by the traditional sol–gel method.