Bi- or multi-metallic nanoparticles are widely studied for their unique optical and catalytic properties that monometallic compositions cannot access alone, making them suited for applications in catalysis, medicine, and nanotechnology. The specific qualities these materials possess are a direct result of their structure, in terms of both overall particle morphology and sub-particle metallic distribution, and a detailed description of these parameters is necessary for the generation of products with intentionally tuned properties. In this work, bimetallic nanoparticles comprised of varying amounts of gold and silver (<i>i.e. </i>AuAgNPs) are synthesized by aqueous chemical reduction and their nanostructural attributes characterized via X-ray scattering (SAXS) and absorption (EXAFS) techniques, which are capable of clarifying nanoscale morphology and alloy homogeneity to a degree inaccessible by routine analysis. Product size and morphology results are complemented with TEM imaging, and total elemental composition is evaluated with X-ray fluorescence (XRF). Several chemical and physical aspects of the synthetic system were varied systematically, resulting in a high-throughput screen of synthetic parameters that can be correlated with the structural attributes of the products. This ultimately enables control over nanoparticle structure and promotes optimization for desired applications.

Systematically mapping the morphology and nanoscale distributions of gold and silver in bimetallic alloy nanoparticles

ACS Spring 2022

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