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.