The impact of the confinement of reactants on the metal distribution in bimetallic nanoparticles synthesized in reverse micelles

• Concha Tojo,
• Elena González and
• Nuria Vila-Romeu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1966–1979, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.206

• the chemical reduction rate, but also on the intermicellar exchange rate. Furthermore, intermicellar exchange causes the accumulation of slower precursors inside the micelles, which favors chemical reduction. As a consequence, slower reduction rates strongly correlate with the number of reactants in

• this confined media. On the contrary, faster reduction rates are limited by the intermicellar exchange rate and not the number of reactants inside the micelles. As a result, different precursor proportions lead to different sequences of metal reduction, and thus the arrangement of the two metals in the

• nanostructure can be manipulated. Keywords: bimetallic nanoparticles; intermicellar exchange rate; microemulsion simulation; Introduction The advancement in the field of nanotechnology relies on the improvement in nanoparticle preparation techniques. Thus, research has been targeted at the development of