Reducing the dimensionality can dramatically improve the physical properties of some compounds. Quasi two-dimensional palladium nanoparticles have been obtained using a graphite lattice as a template. The hexagonal symmetry of the carbon host lattice was found to impose a hexagonal symmetry on the Pd atoms (see Figure; the black dots are the Pd atoms), producing a commensurate superstructure of the host.
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J. Walter (2000) studied this question.