Synthesis, Characterization, and Growth Simulations of Size-Tunable Cu-Pt Nanoclusters

SUBARNA KHANAL; ANA SPITALE; NABRAJ BHATTARAI; DANIEL BAHENA; J. JESUS VELAZQUEZ-SALAZAR; SERGIO MEJÍA-ROSALES; MARCELO M. MARISCAL; MIGUEL JOSÉ-YACAMAN

Beilstein Journal of Nanotechnology

Beilstein-Institut zur Förderung der Chemischen Wissenschaften

Lugar: Frankfurt am Main; Año: 2014 vol. 5 p. 1371 - 1371

2190-4286

ighly monodispersed Cu-Pt bimetallic nanoclusters were synthesized by a facile synthesis approach. Analysis of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Cs-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) images shows that the average diameter of 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 (EDS) line scans, allowed us to study the distribution of Cu and Pt with atomistic resolution, finding that Pt is embedded randomly at 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 and pave the way for designing bimetallic catalysts with tailored properties at the atomic level.