Ligand-Mediated Synthesis of Colloidal Nanoparticle Alloys

Small molecule ligand chemistry is used to mediate the incorporation and distribution of metals in and on discrete, colloidal nanoparticle substrates. Specifically, we examine the case of late d transition metals in Au and Pt hosts. The resulting structures are characterized by a variety of methods including X-ray absorption spectroscopy, electron microscopy, and photoelectron spectroscopy techniques. These multimetallic nanoparticles exhibit previously unobserved mixtures of metals such as continuously tunable Au-Co composition ratios, as well as unique physical properties including composition-tunable near-infrared photoluminescence.