Volcano-type correlation between particle size and catalytic activity on hydrodechlorination catalyzed by AuPd nanoalloy.

Although changing the size of metal nanoparticles (NPs) is a reasonable way to tune and/or enhance their catalytic activity, size-selective preparation of NPs possessing random-alloy morphology has been challenging because of the differences in the ionization potential of each metal ion. This study demonstrates a time-controlled aggregation-stabilization method for the size-selective preparation of random alloy NPs composed of Au and Pd, which are stabilized by poly(-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone) (PVP). By adjusting the mixing time in the presence of a small amount of PVP, aggregation was induced to produce AuPd:PVP with sizes ranging between 1.