Octahedral Growth of PtPd Nanocrystals

PtPd nanoparticles are among the most widely studied nanoscale systems, mainly because of their applications as catalysts in chemical reactions. In this work, a combined experimental-theoretical study is presented about dependence growth shape alloy nanocrystals on composition. The particles grown gas phase and characterized by STEM-HRTEM. nanoalloys present bimodal size distribution. larger population can be tuned between 3.8 ± 0.4 14.1 2.0 nm controlling deposition parameters. A strong particle composition found: Pd-rich more rounded shapes whereas Pt-rich ones exhibit sharp tips. Molecular dynamics simulations excess energy calculations show that structures out equilibrium. able to follow evolution pathways at atomic level, reproducing good agreement with experimental results. Finally optical absorption properties calculated for same sizes our experiments.