Nucleation and Growth of Bimetallic Nanoparticles

In the large family of nanomaterials and more specifically of inorganic nanocrystals, bimetallic alloy nanocrystals represent a particularly interesting class of materials owing their potential use in catalysis, ultra-high density magnetic recordings, and new development in sustainable energy (i.e. fuel cells). In order to study these specific properties, a wide variety of both chemical and physical routes have been developed for the synthesis of model nanoparticles. In particular, one of the specific challenges in the synthesis of nanoalloys is to control and to characterize the alloy composition at the nanometer scale. In this chapter, we give an overview of the main chemical and physical techniques used to synthesize bimetallic nanoparticles together with a discussion of the concepts of nucleation and growth for such objects and their consequence on their structural properties (size, shape, composition, ordering…).