Composition tunable cobalt–nickel and cobalt–iron alloy nanoparticles below 10 nm synthesized using acetonated cobalt carbonyl

A general organometallic route has been developed to synthesize Co(x)Ni(1−x) and Co(x)Fe(1−x) alloy nanoparticles with a fully tunable composition and a size of 4–10 nm with high yield. In contrast to previously reported synthesis methods using dicobalt octacarbonyl (Co(2)(CO)(8)), here the cobalt–cobalt bond in the carbonyl complex is first broken with anhydrous acetone. The acetonated compound, in the presence of iron carbonyl or nickel acetylacetonate, is necessary to obtain small composition tunable alloys. This new route and insights will provide guidelines for the wet-chemical synthesis of yet unmade bimetallic alloy nanoparticles. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s11051-012-0991-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.