Atomic Organization In Magnetic Bimetallic Nanoparticles: An Experimental And Theoretical Approach

Ultrafine bimetallic CoRh nanoparticles synthesized by a soft chemical route with compositions ranging from pure cobalt to pure rhodium are investigated using high-resolution and energy filtering transmission electron microscopy techniques as well as wide angle x-ray scattering. In parallel, they are simulated with the use of an n-body semi-empirical interaction model: quenched molecular dynamics and Monte-Carlo Metropolis simulated annealing are performed on these nanoparticles in order to find their most stable isomers as a function of composition and size. A progressive evolution from an original polytetrahedral structure to the face-centered cubic structure with increasing Rh content is observed in these particles. Strong tendency to Co surface segregation is both experimentally evidenced and confirmed by the simulations.