Synthesis and characterization of alloys and bimetallic nanoparticles of CuNi prepared by Sol-Gel method

Recently, bimetallic nanostructures and nanoalloys have received special interest due to their promising chemical and physical properties. Specifically, Cu-Ni nanoparticles have been investigated for biomedical and catalytic applications. This work reports the synthesis of alloys and bimetallic nanoparticles of Cu_xNi_100-x (x = 20, 40, 50, 60 and 80) by sol-gel method, and their morphological, structural and magnetic characterization. A precursor material was prepared using a standard Pechini method and then CuNi nanoparticles were obtained by calcination treatments of the precursor in H₂/N₂ atmosphere at 600 and 700°C for 15 minutes. The resulting nanoparticles were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), which reveals that this method led to the formation of CuNi substitutional nanoalloys and bimetallic nanoparticles with good cristallinity related with the calcination temperatures and Cu:Ni weight ratios. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) shows nearly monodisperse and uniform spherical nanoparticles with sizes between 40 and 70 nm. The magnetic properties were studied using SQUID magnetometry, according with these results, the CuNi nanoparticles showed a ferromagnetic behavior, the magnetization value increases as a function of the weight percentage of Ni.