Synchrotron Radiation Based Multi-Scale Structural Characterization of CoPt3 Colloidal Nanoparticles

Bimetallic CoPt3 nanoparticles represent a category of colloidal nanoparticles with high application potentials in, e.g., heterogeneous catalysis, sensor technology, and magnetic storage media. Deposition of this system on functionalized supports delivers opportunities for controlled immobilization of the nanoparticles. In this work, self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of n-alkanethiol molecules served as functionalizing material for the Au covered Si substrates. Deposition of the ligand-terminated nanoparticles took place by means of spin and dip coating and has been optimized for each of the mentioned methods so that monolayers of nanoparticles on supports were fabricated with a well-controlled coverage The morphology of the nanoparticle film arranged is addressed by grazing-incidence small angle x-ray scattering (GISAXS). This together with x-ray standing waves in total external reflection (TER-XSW) enables a 3D structural characterization of such nanoparticle films, so that the mean particle size, mean distance of the arranged nanoparticle films to the substrate, as well as the mean particle-particle distance in lateral direction have been determined. TER-XSW, being an element-specific position-sensitive method, also reveals the elemental distribution of the particles which complementary provides a fundamental understanding of their internal structure. The CoPt3 nanoparticles investigated here exhibit a core-shell-like structure with cores of CoPt3 and shells mainly comprise Co. The results regarding the internal structure of the nanoparticles were then verified by extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) measurements.