Tuning atomic-scale mixing of nanoparticles produced by atmospheric-pressure spark ablation

Nanoparticles (NPs) mixed at the atomic scale have been synthesized by atmospheric-pressure spark ablation using pairs of Pd and Hf electrodes. Gravimetric analysis of the electrodes showed that the fraction of each material in the resulting mixed NPs can be varied from ca. 15–85 at% to 85–15 at% by employing different combinations of electrode polarities and thicknesses. These results were also qualitatively corroborated by microscopy and elemental analysis of the produced NPs. When using pairs of electrodes having the same diameter, the material from the one at negative polarity was represented at a substantially higher fraction in the mixed NPs regardless of whether a pair of thin or thick electrodes were employed. This can be attributed to the higher ablation rate of the electrodes at the negative polarity, as already known from earlier experiments. When using electrodes of different diameters, the fraction of the element from the thinner electrode was always higher. This is because thinner electrodes are ablated more effectively due to, at least in part, the increased importance of the associated heat losses compared to its thicker counterpart. In those cases, the polarity of the electrodes had a significantly smaller effect. Overall, our results demonstrate, for the first time, that spark ablation can be used to control atomic scale mixing and thus produce alloyed NPs with compositions that can be tuned to a good extent by simply using different combinations of electrode diameters and polarities. This expands the capabilities of the technique for producing mixed nanoparticle building blocks of well-defined composition that are highly desired for a wide range of applications.