Pt-au alloying at the nanoscale

The formation of nanosized alloys between a pair of elements, which are largely immiscible in bulk, is examined in the archetypical case of Pt and Au. Element specific resonant high-energy X-ray diffraction experiments coupled to atomic pair distribution functions analysis and computer simulations prove the formation of Pt-Au alloys in particles less than 10 nm in size. In the alloys, Au-Au and Pt-Pt bond lengths differing in 0.1 ? are present leading to extra structural distortions as compared to pure Pt and Au particles. The alloys are found to be stable over a wide range of Pt-Au compositions and temperatures contrary to what current theory predicts. The alloy-type structure of Pt-Au nanoparticles comes along with a high catalytic activity for electrooxidation of methanol making an excellent example of the synergistic effect of alloying at the nanoscale on functional properties.     

氧化铅的添加对激光诱导玻璃中金纳米颗粒析出的影响

使用飞秒激光辐照和热处理相结合,通过引入PbO,实现了在含有金离子的硅酸盐玻璃内部,有空间选择性地析出大尺寸金纳米颗粒.通过吸收光谱,电子自旋共振谱和透射电镜测试研究了氧化铅对激光诱导金纳米颗粒析出的影响.实验结果表明,氧化铅的引入能抑制空穴捕获型色心生成,并促进金纳米颗粒的长大.     

Catalytic performance of nanosized Pt-Au alloy catalyst in oxidation of methanol and toluene

The alloy formed between a group-VII metal such as platinum and a group-IB metal such as gold changes the catalytic behavior compared to the monometallic phase, increasing the selectivity toward certain products and also decreasing the deactivation rate. Pt-Au alloy nanoparticles coated on alumina support were found to be catalytically very active for complete oxidation of methanol and toluene. Furthermore, the nanosized Pt-Au particles were added to ZnO/Al2O3 on monolith catalyst. Also, effect of various parameters such as concentration of methanol and toluene and feed flow rate was investigated. Au particles were sized in 20 approximately 30 nm and Pt particles were well dispersed. In case of alumina supported powder catalyst, complete oxidation of methanol occurred at a temperature lower than that of toluene. From oxidation activity of monolithic honeycomb with Pt and Au particles, the conversion of methanol was increased with increasing the concentration of methanol, but conversion of toluene showed a decreasing tendency as the concentration of toluene increased. Also, conversion of methanol over honeycomb catalyst was not largely affected by feed flow rate, while conversion in toluene oxidation was decreased rapidly as feed flow rate was increased. As a result, the Pt-Au/ZnO/Al2O3/M catalyst used is likely to efficiently treat a large volume of exhaust gas containing VOCs.     

Preparation of nanosized Pt-Au alloy catalyst and its activity in methanol oxidation

The alloy catalyst has been widely used because it will be able to improve the activity and selectivity of the single metal catalyst in a given chemical reaction. In this study, the preparation and characteristics of nanosized Pt and Au particles on alumina and their catalytic activity were described. Nanosized Pt-Au catalysts were prepared by impregnation (IMP) method and deposition (DP) method using alumina or ZnO/Al2O3 as support. The size of Pt and Au particles were observed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy dispersive spectroscope (EDS), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Catalytic activity for oxidation of methanol was measured using a flow reactor. It could be seen that the Pt particle size and dispersion in the alloy catalysts was rarely influenced by preparation methods and Au particles coated by deposition method were well dispersed. TEM images showed that Au particles were well dispersed in the Pt/Au/ZnO/Al2O3 catalyst of which Au particles was supported by deposition method. The catalytic activity for methanol are given in the order of Pt-Au[IMP]/ZnO/Al2O3 > Pt[IMP]/Au[DP]/ZnO/Al2O3 > Au[DP]/Pt[IMP]/ZnO/Al2O3 > Pt-Au[DP]/ZnO/Al2O3. Therefore, Au particle size was doing not play an important role in increasing the oxidation activity, but the Au particles may promote the methanol oxidation.     

Ultrafast Laser Manufacture of Stable,Efficient Ultrafine Noble Metal Catalysts Mediated with MOF Derived High Density Defective Metal Oxides

Supported metal nanoparticles (MNPs) undergo severe aggregation, especially when the interaction between MNPs and their supports are limited and weak where their performance deteriorates dramatically. This becomes more severe when catalysts are operated under high temperature. Here, it is reported that MNPs including Pt, Au, Rh, and Ru, with sub‐2 nm size can be stabilized on densely packed defective CeO₂ nanoparticles with sub‐5 nm size via strong coupling by direct laser conversion of corresponding metal ions encapsulated cerous metal–organic frameworks (Ce‐MOFs). Ce‐MOF serves as an ideal dispersion precursor to uniformly encapsulate noble metal ions in their orderly arranged pores. Ultrafast laser vaporization and cooling forms uniform, ultrasmall, well‐mixed, and exceptionally dense nanoparticles of metal and metal oxide concurrently. The laser‐induced ultrafast reaction (within tens of nanoseconds) facilitates the precipitation of CeO₂ nanoparticles with abundant surficial defects. Due to the well‐mixed ultrasmall Pt and CeO₂ components with strong coupling, this catalyst exhibits exceptionally high stability and activity both at low and high temperatures (170–1100 °C) for CO oxidation in long‐term operation, significantly exceeding catalysts prepared by traditional methods. The scalable feature of laser and huge MOF family make it a versatile method for the production of MNP‐based nanocomposites in wide applications.     

Structural and electronic studies of supported Pt and Au epitaxial clusters on tungsten oxide surface

In the present paper we investigated the growth and electronic properties of Pt or Au clusters and formation of Pt-Au bimetallic clusters prepared “in-situ” on tungsten oxide surface by physical deposition under vacuum. The epitaxial tungsten oxide thin films were prepared by oxidation of W(110) single-crystal surface using a RF oxygen plasma source followed by thermal annealing. The chemical state of the system, the interaction between deposit and substrate and formation of Pt-Al alloy were investigated by photoelectron spectroscopy excited by synchrotron radiation (SRPES) and K;α X-ray source (XPS). We found that in contrary to Au clusters the Pt ones strongly interacts with the substrate. Deposition of both Pt and Au on the surface at the substrate temperature of 300 °C gave rise to the formation of bimetallic core-shell clusters. The detail structure of the bimetallic system depends on the order of deposited metals. These findings can explain some properties of Pt/WOx and Au/WOx as well as Pt-Au/WOx bimetallic catalysts and gas sensors.     

Optical radiation efficiencies of metal nanoparticles for optoelectronic applications

The optical radiation efficiencies, defined by the ratio of the scattering cross-section to the extinction cross-section, of spherical nanoparticles of 11 kinds of metal, Ag, Al, Au, Co, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pd, Pt, Sn and Ti, in the air were calculated based on the classical electromagnetic theory. This optical radiation efficiency represents the energy fraction of the incident light reradiated from the particle, not wasted as heat, and the obtained data is an effective guide for the selection of metal elements for nanoparticle-enhanced optoelectronic devices. Ag, Al, Au and Cu were found to have much higher optical radiation efficiencies than the other metals for most range of wavelengths. Strikingly, Ag and Al nanoparticles with diameters around 150 nm were found to exhibit over − 90% optical radiation efficiencies at most optical frequencies.     

Shape-sensitive reflectance by nanostructured metal attached on an optical waveguide-mode sensor

The optical reflectance of He-Ne laser light on a waveguide-mode sensor was measured as a function of light incident angle, in the case of either a metal (Au, Cr or Pt) film or nanoparticles being attached to the waveguide surface of the sensor. A dip appears in the reflectance spectrum as a function of incident angle at the angle where waveguide-mode excitation is induced. It is found that the dip moves toward a lower angle in the case that the attached metal is of a film shape, while it shifts toward a higher angle when the metal is an ensemble of nanoparticles. This difference in the direction of shift can be explained well by theoretical calculations using average refractive indices of the metal-containing layers. The present result indicates that one can estimate whether a metal nanostructure is film-like or an ensemble of spherical nanoparticles by the sensor.     

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering of rhodamine 6G on nanowire arrays decorated with gold nanoparticles

We investigate the surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) of rhodamine 6G (R6G) adsorbed on Au nanoparticles attached to InP nanowires. We find that nanowire arrays act as frameworks for effective SERS substrates with a significantly higher Raman signal sensitivity than a planar framework of Au nanoparticles adsorbed two-dimensionally on a flat surface. The SERS signal displays a clear polarization-dependent effect when the nanowires are arranged in a row. We also find that the SERS signal increases with time during continuous laser illumination. The plasmon-enhanced optical forces between Au nanoparticles may either move pairs of nanoparticles closer together or attract adsorbed molecules by moving them to the junctions of Au nanoparticle aggregates. Such effects by plasmon optical forces may cause the observed increase of the SERS signal with continuous laser illumination.     

Morphology and surface plasma changes of Au-Pt bimetallic nanoparticles

In this study, we examined the amount-dependent change in morphology in a series of Au-Pt bimetallic nanoparticles synthesized using chemical reduction. The amount of Au precursor was kept constant throughout the experiment. The Au/Pt molar ratio was varied from 1/1 to 1/4 to synthesize Pt shell layers with different thicknesses. We observed a remarkable shift of the surface plasmon band at around 410 nm. By high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and energy-dispersive spectrometry (EDS), the composition of the shell layer was found to be Pt-enriched Au-Pt alloy. As the concentration of Pt increases, Pt clusters (ca. 1.8 nm in diameter) form a string-like shape on the surface of nanoparticles.     

Synthesis and functionalities of noble metal nanoparticles formed through simple all-inorganic photochemical procedures

The photochemical reduction of metal precursors under UV light has been studied to produce noble metal nanoparticles. Depending on the metal (Pt, Au or Ag) and precursor (chlorinated or nitrate) natures, different 1-step or 2-step photolytic or photocatalytic reduction mechanisms have been investigated. These mechanisms yield simple all-inorganic methods to generate metal nanoparticles in liquid medium and disperse these particles at the surface of various kinds of supports. Depending on the metal particle and support natures, different functionalities can arise from such easy and low-cost photometallisation methods.     

Ultrafast optical phase modulation with metallic nanoparticles in ion-implanted bilayer silica

The nonlinear optical response of metallic-nanoparticle-containing composites was studied with picosecond and femtosecond pulses. Two different types of nanocomposites were prepared by an ion-implantation process, one containing Au nanoparticles (NPs) and the other Ag NPs. In order to measure the optical nonlinearities, we used a picosecond self-diffraction experiment and the femtosecond time-resolved optical Kerr gate technique. In both cases, electronic polarization and saturated absorption were identified as the physical mechanisms responsible for the picosecond third-order nonlinear response for a near-resonant 532 nm excitation. In contrast, a purely electronic nonlinearity was detected at 830 nm with non-resonant 80 fs pulses. Regarding the nonlinear optical refractive behavior, the Au nanocomposite presented a self-defocusing effect, while the Ag one presented the opposite, that is, a self-focusing response. But, when evaluating the simultaneous contributions when the samples are tested as a multilayer sample (silica-Au NPs-silica-Ag NPs-silica), we were able to obtain optical phase modulation of ultra-short laser pulses, as a result of a significant optical Kerr effect present in these nanocomposites. This allowed us to implement an ultrafast all-optical phase modulator device by using a combination of two different metallic ion-implanted silica samples. This control of the optical phase is a consequence of the separate excitation of the nonlinear refracting phenomena exhibited by the separate Au and Ag nanocomposites.     

Microwave-assisted synthesis of pt nanocrystals and deposition on carbon nanotubes in ionic liquids

In this work, a simple, fast and efficient route is presented for the metal (such as Pt, Rh, etc.) nanocrystal synthesis and deposition on carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in ionic liquids (ILs) via microwave heating. In this method, inorganic salts (such as H2PtCl6.4H2O, RhCl3.2H2O, etc.) dissolved in ILs, 1,1,3,3-tetramethylguanidinium trifluoroacetate or 1,1,3,3-tetramethylguanidinium lactate, were reduced to metal nanoparticles by glycol with the aid of microwave heating, and the produced metal nanoparticles could be decorated on CNTs in the presence of CNTs in ILs. The resulting nanomaterials were characterized by means of transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. It was demonstrated that the homogeneously dispersed Pt nanocrystals with the size of 2-3 nm were obtained using H2PtCl6.4H2O as precursor, and they deposited on CNTs with the similar size when CNTs was present in ILs. This technique also can be extended to fabricate other noble metal nanocrystals (including Rh, Au, etc.) and corresponding CNT composites.     

Growth of Ag, Au, Cu, and Pt nanostructures on surfaces by micropatterned laser-image formations

Silver, gold, copper and platinum nanoparticles (NPs) were grown on surfaces in the form of patterns by the exposure of laser radiation onto droplets of metal ion solutions and the aid of a reducing agent. The generation of patterns from metallic NPs was achieved by combining induced growth of NPs and nanostructures by laser incidence directly on surfaces and optical image formation techniques for transferring the patterns. Near-UV (363.8 nm) and visible (532 nm) laser wavelengths were used for the laser-induced growth of NPs into microstructures on glass, quartz, stainless steel, silicon, and gold-on-silicon substrates. The sizes of the patterns formed were on the micrometer scale and the sizes of the transferred patterns were on the millimeter scale. The patterns formed were generated by optical transference of image and interference of laser beams. Ag and Au substrates were highly active in surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). The enhanced Raman activity was measured for SERS probe molecules: 9H-purin-6-amine (adenine) and 1,2-bis (4-pyridyl)-ethane analytes on Ag and Au substrates, respectively. The enhancement factors obtained were 1.8×10(5) and 6.2×10(6), respectively.     

All electrochemical fabrication of a platinized nanoporous Au thin-film catalyst

In an effort to decrease the high cost associated with the design, testing, and production of electrocatalysts, a completely electrochemical scheme has been developed to deposit and platinize a nanoporous Au (NPG) based catalyst for formic acid oxidation. The proposed route enables synthesis of an alternative to the most established, nanoparticles based catalysts and addresses issues of the latter associated with either contamination inherent from the synthetic route or poor adhesion to the supporting electrode. The synthetic protocol includes as a first step, electrochemical codeposition of a Au((1-x))Ag(x) alloy in a thiosulfate based electrolyte followed by selective electrochemical dissolution (dealloying) of Ag as the less noble metal, that generates an ultrathin and preferably continuous porous structure featuring thickness of less than 20 nm. NPG is then functionalized with Pt (no thicker than 1 nm) by surface limited redox replacement (SLRR) of underpotentially deposited Pb layer to form Pt-NPG. SLRR ensures complete coverage of the surface with Pt, believed to spread evenly over the NPG matrix. Testing of the catalyst at a proof-of-concept level demonstrates its high catalytic activity toward formic acid oxidation. Current densities of 40-50 mA cm(-2) and mass activities of 1-3 A.mg(-1) (of combined Pt-Au catalyst) have been observed and the Pt-NPG thin films have lasted over 2600 cycles in standard formic acid oxidation testing.     

Effect of pretreatment conditions on particle size of bimetallic pt-au catalysts supported on ZnO/Al2O3 and its activity for toluene oxidation

Bimetallic Pt-Au catalysts supported on ZnO/Al2O3 were prepared by incipient wetness impregnation (IW-IMP) method with different pretreatment conditions such as flow velocity, calcination temperature, and heating rate under H2 during the calcination procedure, and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), CO chemisorption, and scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) equipped energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). Furthermore, catalytic activity for complete oxidation of toluene was measured using a flow reactor under atmospheric pressure. Finally, relationship between the particle sizes with pretreatment conditions and catalytic activity for toluene on the bimetallic Pt-Au catalysts was discussed. In these results, nanosized bimetallic Pt-Au particles on ZnO/Al2O3 could be prepared by IW-IMP method. Relationship between the Pt and Au particle size and activity for toluene oxidation was clearly observed.     

脉冲激光液相烧蚀贵金属Au/Ag产物的表征及反应机理研究

采用多波长(1064nm、532nm、248nm)脉冲激光在去离子水中对责金属Au、Ag片表面进行激光烧蚀(PLA).利用TEM、AFM、SEM对烧蚀金属片表层及产物(微/纳米尺度的金属颗粒)进行观察分析,认为在液相水环境中,整个烧蚀过程主要可分为激光诱导相沸腾爆炸和等离子体羽辉混合体膨胀2个过程.在这2个过程中分别产生得到具有微米尺度的球状金属颗粒和纳米尺度的金属颗粒.同时,具有纳米尺度金属Au/Ag颗粒经过强激光光子"二次"修饰改性过程,形成具有形状统一、分散性和稳定性较好的金属纳米胶体体系,这些胶体中金属纳米颗粒作为探针,在表面增强拉曼散射(SERS)光谱学方面有很好的应用价值.     

Optically controlled thermal management on the nanometer length scale

The manipulation of polymers and biological molecules or the control of chemical reactions on a nanometer scale by means of laser pulses shows great promise for applications in modern nanotechnology, biotechnology, molecular medicine or chemistry. A controllable, parallel, highly efficient and very local heat conversion of the incident laser light into metal nanoparticles without ablation or fragmentation provides the means for a tool like a 'nanoreactor', a 'nanowelder', a 'nanocrystallizer' or a 'nanodesorber'. In this paper we explain theoretically and show experimentally the interaction of laser radiation with gold nanoparticles on a polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) layer (one-photon excitation) by means of different laser pulse lengths, wavelengths and pulse repetition rates. To the best of our knowledge this is the first report showing the possibility of highly local (in a 40?nm range) regulated heat insertion into the nanoparticle and its surroundings without ablation of the gold nanoparticles. In an earlier paper we showed that near-infrared femtosecond irradiation can cut labeled DNA sequences in metaphase chromosomes below the diffraction-limited spot size. Now, we use gold as well as silver-enhanced gold nanoparticles on DNA (also within chromosomes) as energy coupling objects for femtosecond laser irradiation with single-and two-photon excitation. We show the results of highly localized destruction effects on DNA that occur only nearby the nanoparticles.     

Tuned longitudinal surface plasmon resonance and third-order nonlinear optical properties of gold nanorods

In order to elucidate the relationship for third-order nonlinear optical properties of anisotropic metal nanoparticles between the incident laser wavelength and surface plasmon resonance (SPR) wavelength, gold nanorods (GNRs) with a tuned longitudinal SPR mode in frequency were prepared by seed-mediated methods with two different surfactants, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and benzyldimethylammonium chloride (BDAC). The real and imaginary parts of the third-order nonlinear optical susceptibilities χ(3) were examined by near-infrared (800 nm) femtosecond Z-scan and I-scan techniques for various gold sols with SPR wavelengths of 530 nm (spheres), 800 nm (nanorods) and 1000 nm (nanorods), named as 530GNSs, 800GNRs and 1000GNRs, respectively. All the samples showed intrinsically third-order nonlinear optical refractive responses. However, as for the real part of χ(3) for one particle, 800GNRs whose plasmon peak was tuned to the incident laser wavelength exhibited a Reχ(3) value 45 times stronger than 530GNSs. More interestingly, the imaginary part of χ(3) was more greatly influenced at the tuned SPR wavelength. Here we first demonstrate that 800GNRs showed plasmon-enhanced saturable absorption (SA) due to a longitudinal SPR tuned to the incident laser wavelength.     

飞秒激光空间选择性诱导玻璃微结构及应用

利用飞秒激光与玻璃的非线性相互作用，可以对玻璃进行空间选择性微观改性与修饰，赋予新的光功能．本文介绍飞秒激光的持点及其对玻璃微结构的改性，以及近年来利用飞秒激光进行玻璃的缺陷控制、光活性离子(稀土、过渡和重金属离子)价态操作、微晶析出与折射率调控及其在光开关、波分复用、波导型有源器件、光子晶体等微光学器件的制备及光学集成领域应用的进展．