Study of the Internal Compositions of Binary Alloy Pd-Rh Nanoparticles by Using Bragg Coherent Diffraction Imaging

Bragg coherent diffraction imaging (BCDI), a well-established technique for imaging the internal strain of nanoparticles, was used to image the internal compositional distribution of binary alloys in thermal equilibrium. The images experimentally obtained for Pd-Rh alloy nanoparticles are presented and discussed. A direct correspondence between the lattice strain and the compositional deviation is discussed with the derivation of the BCDI displacement field aided by illustrations. The correspondence suggests that the longitudinal derivative of the displacement field, the strain induced by compositional heterogeneity, can be quantitatively converted to 3D images of the compositional deviation from the particle average by using Vegard’s law. It also suggests that the transverse derivative can be qualitatively associated with the disorder of Bragg planes. The studied Pd-Rh alloy nanoparticle exhibited internal composition heterogeneity; the Rh composition tends to be high at edges and corners between facets and gradually decreases from the surface to the core of the particle.