Small bimetallic (Pt/Pd) particles by biosynthesis: transmission electron microscopy and quantum mechanical analysis

Bimetallic Pd/Pt nanoparticles were synthesized by bio-reduction method. The structural characterizations were performed by high resolution transmission electron microscope and energy dispersive spectroscopy. The size distribution, shapes, structures and elemental distribution were studied for the synthesized samples. Molecular simulation methods based on quantum mechanics have been applied to acquire the further information on their structural stability, electronic properties etc. The results show that the particle size for the pH = 4 was bimodal with an average particle size of 3.2 nm and a variance of 1.8 nm. While for pH is 7 the average is 3.9 nm about the variance increase up to 3.7 nm, and larger particles can be found. By the HREM micrographs, it is identified fcc-like clusters with a few planar defects, which may be pure Pd or Pt, or bimetallic Pd/Pt. Theoretically the most stable configuration corresponds to the Pd18Pt37 eutectic-like structure, which implies a cluster in cluster form.