Herein we report a simple and green synthesis of smart Au and Ag@Au nanocomposite particles using poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)/polyethyleneimine (PNIPAm/PEI) core-shell microgels as dual reductant and templates in an aqueous system. The nanocomposite particles were synthesized through a spontaneous reduction of tetrachloroauric (III) acid to gold nanoparticles at room temperature, and in situ en...

Ammonia decomposition is often used as an archetypical reaction for predicting new catalytic materials and understanding the very reason of why some reactions are sensitive on material's structure. Core-shell or surface-segregated bimetallic nanoparticles expose outstanding activity for many heterogeneously catalysed reactions but the reasons remain elusive owing to the difficulties in experime...

A genetic algorithm is used with density functional theory to investigate the catalytic properties of 38- and 79-atom bimetallic core-shell nanoparticles for the oxygen reduction reaction. Each particle is represented by a two-gene chromosome that identifies its core and shell metals. The fitness of each particle is specified by how close the d-band level of the shell is to that of the Pt(111) ...

Bimetallic nanoalloys have been shown to have tunable chemical and physical properties by varying the composition, atomic ordering and size of clusters [1]. In fact, the surface structure, composition and segregation properties [2,3] of nanoalloys are crucial in determining chemical reactivity and activity [4,5]. A core-shell structure results from the chemical ordering of an atom forming a she...

The oxidation of bimetallic alloy nanoparticles comprising a noble and a nonnoble metal is expected to cause the formation of a single-component surface oxide of the nonnoble metal, surrounding a core enriched with the noble metal. Studying the room temperature oxidation of Au-In nanoparticles, we show that this simple picture does not apply to an important class of bimetallic alloys, in which ...

A novel TiO2 supported core-shell (Pd@Ag) bimetallic catalyst was fabricated via the sequential photodeposition method. The Ag shell effectively blocks the high coordination sites on the Pd core, and therefore pronouncedly enhances the ethylene selectivity for the catalytic hydrogenation of acetylene in excess ethylene.

A novel PtFe@Pt core-shell nanostructure with a PtFe bimetallic core and a nanodendrite Pt shell was fabricated through a facile aqueous reduction process. Without any capping agent and/or surfactant, a clean Pt surface can be obtained. The novel nanostrutured crystals show superior electrocatalytic performance towards methanol oxidation due to the enlarged Pt surface area and the modified elec...