Growth of out-of-equilibrium PtPd nanoalloys

Abstract

Bimetallic nanoparticles (BNPs) are receiving increasing attention due to their versatility in applications. We can distinguish between equilibrium growth, when the system is close to thermodynamic equilibrium at each stage of the growth, and out-of-equilibrium growth if the system explores high-energy structures in which it can eventually be kinetically trapped. Coalescence is a promising strategy to grow strongly out-of-equilibrium structures. Gas phase synthesis can be used to produce a wide variety of highly pure BNPs with tailored features. In this study, we show an experimental method to grow particle with out-of-equilibrium structures. An experimental overview on the approaches developed to control the degree of coalescence of the PtPd BNPs is presented.