The addition of TPP into the mixture of oleylamine and complex
as an additional surfactant reduced the particle size much further
and resulted in nanocrystals with very thin arrays. Oleylamine
is known as a ligand that binds tightly to the metal nanoparticles
surface. The combined effects of TPP and oleylamine were much
more profound than those of individual contributions. When the
triphenylphosphine (TPP) was used as the complexing agent, the
circumference of produced nuclei was capped by this surfactant,
leading to the increase of surface energy of some crystallographic faces.