Overcoming immiscibility toward bimetallic catalyst library.

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Nanotechnology
• Catalysis

Background:

• Bimetallic materials offer unique chemical properties compared to monometallics.
• Synthesizing homogeneously alloyed bimetallics is challenging due to thermodynamic immiscibility of elements.
• A diverse library of bimetallic nanomaterials with novel properties remains largely inaccessible.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel synthesis strategy for overcoming thermodynamic immiscibility in bimetallic systems.
• To create a broad range of homogeneously alloyed copper-based bimetallic nanoparticles.
• To investigate the catalytic performance of these bimetallic nanoparticles for carbon monoxide reduction.

Main Methods:

• A nonequilibrium synthesis strategy was employed to create alloyed bimetallic nanoparticles.
• The synthesis approach overcomes inherent thermodynamic immiscibility.
• The synthesized nanoparticles were characterized and tested as electrocatalysts.

Main Results:

• A wide array of homogeneously alloyed copper-based bimetallic nanoparticles were successfully synthesized.
• The synthesized nanoparticles were evaluated as electrocatalysts for carbon monoxide reduction.
• Cu0.9Ni0.1 nanoparticles achieved a high multicarbon product Faradaic efficiency of ~76% at ~93 mA cm-2.

Conclusions:

• The developed nonequilibrium synthesis strategy effectively overcomes thermodynamic immiscibility in bimetallic systems.
• This approach enables the creation of novel bimetallic nanomaterials with tunable compositions.
• The synthesized bimetallic nanoparticles demonstrate significant potential as efficient electrocatalysts for CO reduction.