Atomic Distribution and Strain in Decahedral Multimetallic Nanoparticles

The synthesis, characterization, and computational modeling of AuCuNiPd nanoparticle alloys are reported in this paper. It was demonstrated that the AuCuNiPd alloys present dispersed atoms along the nanoparticles without any chemical order. The chemical analysis showed the alloys present a stoichiometry consistent with the Au₃₅Cu₃₅Ni₁₅Pd₁₅ phase, at times showing segregation related to the Pd and Ni atoms. Molecular dynamics calculations were carried out to describe the stable phase of the nanoparticles, showing remarkable agreement with the experimental results. These findings are consistent with the high-entropy alloy predictions. Therefore, multimetallic nanoparticles with large enough sizes are an excellent model to study multimetallic alloys.