Chemical and morphological characterizations of CoNi alloy nanoparticles formed by co-evaporation onto highly oriented pyrolytic graphite

Gaixia Zhang; Shuhui Sun; Marc Bostetter; Suzie Poulin; Edward Sacher

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2010.06.065

Chemical and morphological characterizations of CoNi alloy nanoparticles formed by co-evaporation onto highly oriented pyrolytic graphite

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2010 Oct 1;350(1):16-21. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2010.06.065. Epub 2010 Jul 1.

Authors

Gaixia Zhang¹, Shuhui Sun, Marc Bostetter, Suzie Poulin, Edward Sacher

Affiliation

¹ Regroupement Québécois de Matériaux de Pointe, Département de Génie Physique, Ecole Polytechnique, C.P. 6079, succursale Centre-Ville, Montréal, Québec, Canada H3C 3A7.

PMID: 20650466
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2010.06.065

Abstract

CoNi alloy nanoparticles, formed by co-evaporation onto freshly cleaved highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) surfaces, have been studied using time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and scanning electron (SEM) and atomic force (AFM) microscopies. ToF-SIMS detected Co(x)Ni(y) fragments, indicating alloy formation. Even under ultra-high vacuum, the nanoparticles reacted with residual C- and O-containing gases to form surface contaminants (carbides, oxides, etc.) as revealed by both XPS and ToF-SIMS. On prolonged exposure to air, both the zerovalent metal and carbide peaks of each component decreased with time, as each metal reacted with atmospheric oxygen; as with the pure metals, the Co component of the alloy was the more reactive.