Thermal Stability of Gold/Palladium Octopods Studied in Situ in 3D: Understanding Design Rules for Thermally Stable Metal Nanoparticles

Abstract

Multifunctional metal nanoparticles (NPs) such as anisotropic multimetallic NPs are crucial for boosting nanomaterial based applications. Advanced synthetic protocols exist to make a large variety of such nanostructures. However, a major limiting factor for the usability of them in real life applications is their stability. Here, we show that Au/Pd octopods, 8-branched nanocrystals with Oh symmetry, with only a low amount of Pd exhibited a high thermal stability and maintained strong plasmon resonances up to 600 C. Furthermore, we study the influence of the composition, morphology and environment on the thermal stability and define key parameters for the design of thermally stable multifunctional NPs.