Direct observation of three-dimensional atomic structure of twinned metallic nanoparticles and their catalytic properties

Abstract

We determined a full 3D atomic structure of a dumbbell-shaped Pt nanoparticle formed by a coalescence of two nanoclusters using deep learning assisted atomic electron tomography. Formation of double twin boundary was clearly observed at the interface, while substantial anisotropy and disorder were also found throughout the nanodumbbell. This suggests that the diffusion of interfacial atoms mainly governed the coalescence process, but other dynamic processes such as surface restructuring and plastic deformation were also involved. A full 3D strain tensor was clearly mapped, which allows direct calculation of the oxygen reduction reaction activity at the surface. Strong tensile strain was found at the protruded region of the nanodumbbell, which results in an improved catalytic activity on {100} facets. This work provides important clues regarding the coalescence mechanism and the relation between the atomic structure and catalytic property at the single-atom level.

References in corpus (3)

• Accurate determination of crystal structures based on averaged local bond order parameters
• Deciphering chemical order/disorder and material properties at the single-atom level
• Single-atom level determination of 3-dimensional surface atomic structure via neural network-assisted atomic electron tomography

Cited by in corpus (6)

• Revealing 3-dimensional core-shell interface structures at the single-atom level
• Multislice Electron Tomography using 4D-STEM
• Revealing the Three-Dimensional Arrangement of Polar Topology in Nanoparticles
• Atomic-scale 3D structural dynamics and functional degradation of Pt alloy nanocatalysts during the oxygen reduction reaction
• Advancing atomic electron tomography with neural networks
• PhaseT3M: 3D Imaging at 1.6 Å Resolution via Electron Cryo-Tomography with Nonlinear Phase Retrieval