Melting mechanisms of Pt-based multimetallic spherical nanoparticles by molecular dynamics simulation

The melting mechanisms of Pt-based multimetallic nanoparticles(NPs)are important to help determine their optimal melting processes.To understand the melting and coalescence behaviors of heterogeneous NPs(Pd-Pt NPs)with various sizes and compositions,molecular dynamics(MD)simulation was employed.The MD results for larger Pd-Pt NPs with an effective diameter of4.6-7.8 nm show that PtPd alloy can form at Pd/Pt interface before Pd NP melted completely,while for Pt-core/Pdshell NP and Pd-core/Pt-shell NP,PtPd alloy formed only after Pd portion melted completely.For smaller Pd-Pt NPs with an effective diameter of 2.5-4.0 nm,PdPt alloy is not formed until both Pd and Pt NPs melted completely.Besides,the coalescence process of Pd-Pt NPs depends on the melting temperature of Pt NP when Pt composition is higher than 20 at%.Furthermore,the melting mechanisms of Pd/Pt/Ir trimetallic NPs are investigated.A two-step melting process occurs in Pd-Pt-Ir NPs and Ir-core/Ptshell/Pd-shell NP,and the melting sequence of Pd-core/Ptshell/Ir-shell NP and Pt-core/Pd-shell/Ir-shell NP is different from Pd/Pt bimetallic NPs.