Synthesis and Characterization of Cu-Pt Bimetallic Nanoparticles

Pt-based alloys have recently triggered a lot of attentions due to their important potential industrial applications. They provide great opportunities for the development of low-cost and high-performance fuel-cell catalysts. Many studies have already pointed out the excellent physico-chemical properties of Pt-based alloys, intimately related to their internal structure. Great efforts have been spent to characterize shape, homogeneity, dispersion, alloying extent and kinetic growth of Pt-based nano-particles. Here, we present Cu-Pt bimetallic nano-particles synthesized by the thermal decomposition method under oleylamine and OE coordination. HRTEM images show that Cu-Pt nanostructures having size of about 1.2 nm includes about 35 atoms capped by the surfactant with OA. Accurate structural information of this system has been obtained by XRD and XAFS. A charge transfer mechanism has been observed and Pt occupied Cu sites in these Cu-Pt nanoparticles.