Why silver dissipates from gold-silver nanoparticles
The discovery could help fine-tune nanoparticle alloys for specific uses. Gold-silver alloys are useful catalysts that degrade environmental pollutants, facilitate the production of plastics and chemicals, and kill bacteria on surfaces, among other applications. In nanoparticle form, these alloys could be useful as optical sensors or to catalyze hydrogen evolution reactions. The team, from Rice University and the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany, employed sophisticated microscopy to show how gold might retain enough silver to stabilize the nanoparticle. Their study appears in the journ...