In this study scientists from Institute of Physics, UPJS in Slovakia, joined international collaboration with colleagues from USA and Japan to employ Bragg coherent diffraction imaging (BCDI) to reveal the strain evolution in Pt–Ni alloy nanoparticle catalysts. These systems are important materials for hydrogen energy conversion devices such as hydrogen fuell cells. Composition dependency of the strain on the shells was in excellent agreement with that of the catalytic activity.
The presented study demonstrates that BCDI enables quantitative determination of the strain on alloy nanoparticles during electrochemical reactions, which provides a means to exploit surface strain to design a wide range of electrocatalysts. Article was published in prestigious journal Nanoletters (Nano Lett. 2021, 21, 5945-5951) with impact factor 11.189.
