Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Preferential Outward Diffusion of Cu during Unconventional Galvanic Replacement Reactions between HAuCl4 and Surface-limited Cu Nanocrystals

Published

Author(s)

Yonglin Liu, Angela R. Hight Walker

Abstract

Using pre-synthesized Cu-Cu1.81S hetero-oligomer and Cu-Cu2S heterodimer NCs as templates and reactants, the addition of HAuCl4 leads to the preferential outward diffusion of Cu, evidenced by the formation of straight or kinked CuAu nanowires, respectively. The directional structures of the as-prepared CuAu nanowires elucidate the outward diffusion pathway of Cu, visualized by alloying Cu with newly produced Au. The time-dependent growth of these nanowires allows us to calculate the diffusion coefficients of Cu during these processes for the first time. This protocol can be likely extended to other similar metal NC systems, providing a simple and cost-effective method for visualization and kinetic investigation of metal diffusions in nanoscale materials.
Citation
ACS Nano
Volume
5
Issue
9

Keywords

Cu diffusion, diffusion coefficient, HAuCl4, surface-limited Cu nanocrystals, unconventional galvanic replacement reaction

Citation

Liu, Y. and Hight, A. (2011), Preferential Outward Diffusion of Cu during Unconventional Galvanic Replacement Reactions between HAuCl4 and Surface-limited Cu Nanocrystals, ACS Nano, [online], https://doi.org/10.1021/nn200565y (Accessed March 28, 2024)
Created August 25, 2011, Updated November 10, 2018