Morphological and compositional characteristics of bimetallic core@shell nanoparticles revealed by MEIS

Abstract

In this paper we report the application of a suitable methodology to study the morphology, structure and composition of core@shell nanoparticles (NPs) systems with polydispersity in the shell thickness, with subnanometer resolution and good sampling. Through the combination of Medium Energy Ion Scattering with Transmission Electron Microscopy, we perform a systematic investigation on core@shell Au@Ag NPs synthesized by an original wet chemical method. For samples synthesized with baths of different AgNO3 concentrations, the present approach allowed us to determine the NP's Ag shell thicknesses distribution of about a few nanometers around the Au core.