Study of Au/Pd and Au/Co bimetallic nanoparticles using aberration corrected STEM

The synergetic combination of two metals in bimetallic (BM) nanoparticle (NP) significantly changes the optical, catalytic, electronic and magnetic properties. The possible reason for synergetic effects is the heterometallic bond between two metals, dilution of active site, the combination of two kinds of metals and their fine structures. The enhanced catalytic properties of BM nanoparticles are widely used in several industrial reactions. For practical applications and better understanding of this system, there should be well-controlled synthesis of shape and size selected structures, powerful structural characterization tools including advanced in situ atomic-level analytical techniques, modern modeling tools with supercomputers, and in-depth understanding of structure-property relationship. In this paper, we are presenting the use of Z-contrast imaging in aberration-corrected HAADF STEM images in the study of atomic ordering in nanoalloys and core/shell and also investigating the growth mechanism in Au-Pd and the interface region between Au and Pd.