Facile synthesis of bimetallic nanoparticles with diverse nanostructures using metal acetylacetonates

Abstract

Bimetallic nanoparticles (NPs) have become a fundamental subject in the field of nanoscience and inorganic chemistry. Owing to the fascinating optical and catalytic properties that rise from their synergetic effect, plasmonic-catalytic bimetallic NPs, in particular, are employed in a myriad of applications such as catalysis, sensing and photocatalysis. Optical properties of plasmonic NPs such as gold or silver NPs are based on the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) in the visible spectral range. Plasmonic NPs enhance the localization of electromagnetic fields, converting light to hot carriers or heat that can be used to drive chemical reactions. On the other hand, catalytic metals, which have d-bands close to the Fermi-level, make strong binding to reactants and lower the activation energy of chemical reactions. The properties of plasmonic-catalytic bimetallic NPs such as efficiency or product selectivity in the chemical reaction do not only rely on factors like size and composition of metal NPs, but more importantly, on the types of nanostructures formed. Herein, several nanostructures were synthesized by developing a facile approach using metal acetylacetonates. The synthesized NPs include bare silver NPs, bare palladium NPs, Pd@Ag core-shell NPs, Pd@Ag nanowires, Ag-Pd alloyed core-satellite NPs, Ag-Pt alloyed nano-stars and concave nano-cubes, and trimetallic AgPdPt NPs. In this study, it was found that the temperature, composition of metal components, and amount of capping and reducing agents play a key role in the synthesis of different types of bimetallic NPs. This study is important in the field of nanochemistry as it provides a novel synthesis method for generating plasmonic-catalytic bimetallic NPs.