Synthesis, characterization, and growth simulations of Cu-Pt bimetallic nanoclusters

Subarna Khanal, Ana Spitale, Nabraj Bhattarai, Daniel Bahena, J. Jesus Velazquez-Salazar, Sergio Mejía-Rosales, Marcelo M. Mariscal, Miguel José-Yacaman

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

18 Scopus citations

Abstract

Highly monodispersed Cu-Pt bimetallic nanoclusters were synthesized by a facile synthesis approach. Analysis of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and spherical aberration (Cs)-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) images shows that the average diameter of the Cu-Pt nanoclusters is 3.0 ± 1.0 nm. The high angle annular dark field (HAADF-STEM) images, intensity profiles, and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) line scans, allowed us to study the distribution of Cu and Pt with atomistic resolution, finding that Pt is embedded randomly in the Cu lattice. A novel simulation method is applied to study the growth mechanism, which shows the formation of alloy structures in good agreement with the experimental evidence. The findings give insight into the formation mechanism of the nanosized Cu-Pt bimetallic catalysts.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1371-1379
Number of pages9
JournalBeilstein Journal of Nanotechnology
Volume5
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 2014
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Cu-Pt clusters
  • Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX)
  • Grand-canonical Langevin dynamics
  • Nanoalloys
  • Scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM)

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Materials Science
  • General Physics and Astronomy
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Synthesis, characterization, and growth simulations of Cu-Pt bimetallic nanoclusters'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this