Abstract Alloy nanoparticles exhibit higher catalytic activity than monometallic nanoparticles, and their stable structures are of importance to their applications. We employ the simulated annealing algorithm to systematically explore the stable structure and segregation behavior of tetrahexahedral Pt-Pd-Cu-Au quaternary alloy nanoparticles. Three alloy nanoparticles consisting of 443 atoms, 1417 atoms, and 3285 atoms are considered and compared. The preferred positions of atoms in the nanoparticles are analyzed. The simulation results reveal that Cu and Au atoms tend to occupy the surface, Pt atoms preferentially occupy the middle layers, and Pd atoms tend to segregate to the inner layers. Furthermore, Au atoms present stronger surface segregation than Cu ones. This study provides a fundamental understanding on the structural features and segregation phenomena of multi-metallic nanoparticles.
Fund: Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51271156, 11474234, and 61403318) and the Natural Science Foundation of Fujian Province of China (Grant Nos. 2013J01255 and 2013J06002).
Altmetric calculates a score based on the online attention an article receives. Each coloured thread in the circle represents a different type of online attention. The number in the centre is the Altmetric score. Social media and mainstream news media are the main sources that calculate the score. Reference managers such as Mendeley are also tracked but do not contribute to the score. Older articles often score higher because they have had more time to get noticed. To account for this, Altmetric has included the context data for other articles of a similar age.