Large scale synthesis of copper nickel alloy nanoparticles with reduced compressibility using arc thermal plasma process.

Among the various methods employed in the synthesis of nanostructures, those involving high operating temperature and sharp thermal gradients often lead to the establishment of new exotic properties. Herein, we report on the formation of Cu-Ni metallic alloy nanoparticles with greatly enhanced stiffness achieved through direct-current transferred arc-thermal plasma assisted vapour-phase condensation. High pressure synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD) at ambient temperature as well as XRPD in the temperature range 180 to 920 K, show that the thermal arc-plasma route resulted in alloy nanoparticles with much enhanced bulk modulus compared to their bulk counterparts. Such a behaviour may find an explanation in the sudden quenching assisted by the retention of a large amount of local strain due to alloying, combined with the perfect miscibility of the elemental components during the thermal plasma synthesis process.