Insight into the formation mechanism of PtCu alloy nanoparticles

Different compositions of PtCu alloy nanoparticles were formed using one-pot synthesis. The effects of different reaction parameters (precursor type, precursor ratio, stabilizing agent concentration, and temperature) were studied. To achieve an insight into the formation mechanism, a kinetic study of time-evolution of the system was conducted, followed by a study of the influence of the precursor addition step. Studying the formation mechanism of alloy nanoparticles enables a better design of next-generation hybrid metal nano-catalysts.