Bimetallic Nanocrystals: Liquid‐Phase Synthesis and Catalytic Applications

Abstract

Bimetallic nanocrystals (NCs) with core/shell, heterostructure, or inter-metallic and alloyed structures are emerging as more important materials than monometallic NCs. They are expected to display not only a combination of the properties associated with two distinct metals, but also new properties and capabilities due to a synergy between the two metals. More importantly, bimetallic NCs usually show composition-dependent surface structure and atomic segregation behavior, and therefore more interesting applied potentials in various fields including electronics, engineering, and catalysis. Compared with monometallic NCs, preparation of bimetallic NCs is much more complicated and difficult to be achieved. In recent years, researchers from many groups have made great efforts in this area. This review highlights the recent progress in the chemical synthesis of bimetallic NCs. The control over morphology, size, composition, and structure of bimetallic NCs as well as the exploration of their properties and applications are discussed.

Direct synthesis of antimicrobial coatings based on tailored bi-elemental nanoparticles

“…The NPs are similar to the Janus type NPs, 20 with metallic Ag nano-crystals partly embedded in an amorphous TiO 2 matrix. The nano-structured Ag-Ti coating shows good adhesion to the substrate and exhibits an exceptional bactericidal effect against major Gram-negative nosocomial pathogens, remarkably similar to a pure Ag NPs coating, 24 but with an 85% lower Ag mass content.…”

Coexistence of plasmonic and magnetic properties in Au89Fe11 nanoalloys

“…31,34,35,39,40,45 This is a relevant point, since bottom-up synthetic approaches oen yield byproducts such as clustered iron atoms in the gold matrix, [36][37][38][39][40]47 iron-gold core-shell structures 11,34,35 or iron oxidegold heterostructures and agglomerates, [39][40][41]44 owing to the unfavorable thermodynamics in the formation of Au-Fe alloys. 28 Moreover, the AuFeNPs obtained by all previous methods were found to have problems related to surface accessibility, 15,[31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46] which is important to catalytic applications [18][19][20] and for conjugation with functional molecules. [11][12][13] Thus, new low-cost and non-toxic synthetic methods that allow the synthesis of large amounts of well-dispersed and accessible nanoparticles avoiding the thermodynamic limitations to alloy formation are needed.…”

Green synthesis of bimetallic Pt@Cu nanostructures for catalytic oxidative desulfurization of model oil

“…Thus, green synthesis of nanoparticles using biomaterials is attractive to most scientists due to its simplicity and eco-friendliness. Bimetallic nanostructures are also more attractive for a wide range of catalytic and electrocatalytic applications over their monometallic counterparts due to combined properties of the two individual metals and the synergy that exists between the two metals [12][13][14][15][16][17].…”