Electrum, the Gold-Silver Alloy, from the Bulk Scale to the Nanoscale: Synthesis, Properties, and Segregation Rules.

ABSTRACT: The alloy Au-Ag system is an important noble bimetallic phase, both historically (as "Electrum") and now especially in nanotechnology, as it is applied in catalysis and nanomedicine. To comprehend the structural characteristics and the thermodynamic stability of this alloy, a knowledge of its phase diagram is required that considers explicitly its size and shape (morphology) dependence. However, as the experimental determination remains quite challenging at the nanoscale, theoretical guidance can provide significant advantages. Using a regular solution model within a nanothermodynamic approach to evaluate the size effect on all the parameters (melting temperature, melting enthalpy, and interaction parameters in both phases), the nanophase diagram is predicted. Besides an overall shift down

SUBMITTER: Guisbiers G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4734609 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature