Preparation of Gold-Nickel Phosphide Core-Shell Nanoparticles via a Facile Solution Method

Abstract

Core-shell nanomaterials have been one of the most attracting research targets in the field of nanoscience and technology due to the multiple functionalities contributed from different components. In this paper, we report a facile solution synthetic method for the preparation of gold-nickel phosphide core-shell nanoparticles that have a near-spherical morphology and a size of ~20 nm. Transmission electron microscopy along with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy analyses reveals a core-shell structure consisting of gold core and nickel phosphide shell. The optical absorption data show that the surface plasmon resonance band of gold in the visible range is greatly decreased by coating nickel phosphide shell. The result of magnetic measurement reveals that the as-prepared core-shell nanoparticles basically exhibit paramagnetic characteristics. The obtained gold-nickel phosphide core-shell nanoparticles can be applied in application fields such as catalysis.