The gold -
platinum nanoparticles, which are about hundred thousand times thinner than a human hair, also are efficient at converting laser radiation into heat and killing the cancer cell, making them promising for another cancer treatment known as photo - thermal therapy.
«This could help scientists learn how to steer the growth of iron -
platinum nanoparticles so they develop more highly magnetic patterns of atoms,» says Ercius.
Together with Michael Huth's lab at Goethe Universität at Frankfurt am Main, they developed a sensor made up of highly conductive
platinum nanoparticles surrounded by an insulating carbon matrix.
Movie clips that accompany the publication capture the structure of two
platinum nanoparticles, which have never been seen in such detail before.
Surprisingly, the chemical reactions do not take place on
the platinum nanoparticles themselves, and it is the interplay between platinum particles and the iron - oxide surface that makes the reaction so efficient.
The atomic trenches created that way keep
the platinum nanoparticles from clustering, which would decrease their reactivity.
While displaying this behavior, the bonded
platinum nanoparticles maintain an effective surface area functioning as a catalyst for chemical reactions, a discovery that could lower the production costs of platinum - catalyzed fuel cells.
«Graphene's bonding effect on
platinum nanoparticles characterized: Lower costs in fuel cell production?.»
Scanning tunneling microscopy, which produces images of individual atoms on a surface, was used to view the behavior of
the platinum nanoparticles on the graphene.
The research also shows, for the first time, that a functionally superior, single - crystal
platinum nanoparticle emerges from its application to graphene.
Iron atoms travel to the surface from within the material, and right next to
the platinum nanoparticle, an additional iron - oxide island is created.
Identification of the precise 3 - D coordinates of iron, shown in red, and platinum atoms in an iron -
platinum nanoparticle..
The image of the iron -
platinum nanoparticle (referenced in the headline) reminds of foetal ultrasound images.
By taking multiple images of the iron -
platinum nanoparticle with an advanced electron microscope at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and using powerful reconstruction algorithms developed at UCLA, the researchers determined the precise three - dimensional arrangement of atoms in the nanoparticle.
Now, UCLA [University of California at Los Angeles] physicists and collaborators have mapped the coordinates of more than 23,000 individual atoms in a tiny iron -
platinum nanoparticle to reveal the material's defects.
The researchers then used the three - dimensional coordinates of the atoms as inputs into quantum mechanics calculations to determine the magnetic properties of the iron -
platinum nanoparticle.
Not exact matches
In general, catalysts are rare metals (
platinum, for example), which are often used in the form of
nanoparticles.
The produced aerosol is directed over the heated substrate using a stream of nitrogen gas resulting into a polycrystalline thin film grown on the chalcopyrite substrate over time with embedded
nanoparticles of
platinum.
The tiny
nanoparticles used for catalysis often consist of only a few
platinum atoms.
Reactants can flow into the hollow structure through holes in the faces, interacting with more
platinum atoms in the chemical reaction than would be the case on a flat sheet of
platinum or traditional, nonhollowed
nanoparticles.
«Our work uses a semiconducting
nanoparticle with an attached
platinum electrode to drive the synthesis of an anti-cancer compound when illuminated by light,» says Howard R. Petty, Ph.D., professor of ophthalmology and visual sciences and of microbiology and immunology.
They synthesized small quantities of realistic catalysts, such as
platinum - copper single atom alloy
nanoparticles supported on an alumina substrate, and then tested them under industrial pressure and temperatures.
For example, when describing how
platinum catalytic
nanoparticles form, scientists simply used an element's bulk density and surface tension.
Led by Argonne National Lab's Vojislav Stamenkovic and Berkeley Lab's Peidong Yang, researchers created hollow
platinum and nickel
nanoparticles, a thousand times smaller in diameter than a human hair.
The
platinum atoms gather and form
nanoparticles, and the carbon atoms naturally form a matrix around them,» said Maja Dukic, the article's lead author.
Using the new data from the research teams on the West Coast, Eisenbach and Kent were able to precisely model the measured atomic structure, including defects, from a unique iron -
platinum (FePt)
nanoparticle and simulate its magnetic properties on the 27 - petaflop Titan supercomputer at the OLCF.
Each
platinum cluster typically contains 30
platinum atoms; within the whole
nanoparticle there are approximately 1,680 titanium atoms and 180
platinum atoms.
The
nanoparticle, as imaged with an aberration - corrected scanning transmission electron microscope, features eyes, nose and mouth of precious - metal
platinum clusters embedded in a titanium dioxide face.
Compared with a more conventional pure
platinum catalyst particle, the inclusion of the titanium atoms offers two potential benefits: dilution of how much precious
platinum is needed to perform the catalysis, and protection of the
platinum cores against sintering (i.e. aggregation of the
nanoparticles).
The researchers succeeded by overcoming some of the technical challenges presented in the fabrication of the
platinum - zinc
nanoparticles with an ordered lattice structure, which function best at the small sizes in which the chemically reactive surface area is highest in proportion to the particle volume.