Highly monodisperse Cu- and Ag-based bimetallic nanocrystals for the efficient utilization of noble metals in catalysis.

Highly monodisperse Cu- and Ag-based bimetallic noble metal nanocrystals (BNMNs) with diameter 2-7 nm have been synthesized. The synthesis employs a successive reduction process by using inorganic metal salts as precursors at a low temperature (∼110 °C). HRTEM, XPS and XRD analytical techniques were applied for the structural analysis of BNMNs. Catalytic activity investigation (CO oxidation) over different supports (silicate nanotubes and CeO2 nanoparticles) shows that BNMNs have identical and even enhanced performance over pure noble metal nanocrystals with similar size and size distribution, which proves that these BNMNs can significantly reduce the amount and thus make full use of noble metals in catalysis.