Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Multimetallic nanoparticles (NPs) offer access to a vast compositional and architectural design space, yet controlled formation of core-shell and multi-shell architectures rapidly becomes unpredictable as compositional complexity increases. As a result, architectural outcomes are often regarded as system-specific and governed primarily by kinetic effects. Here, we identify a unifying thermodynamic principle that governs shell formation in multimetallic NPs based on binary mixing enthalpies and phase behaviour. By systematically establishing enthalpy-driven rules in binary NPs and extending them to higher-order compositions, we show that elemental segregation and the composition and sequence of multiple shells in NPs containing up to five elements are predictable despite their combinatorial complexity, even when synthesised in a simple one-pot wet-chemical reaction. These results demonstrate that thermodynamic interactions maintain predictive power as compositional complexity increases and provide a general framework for rationalising architectural design in multimetallic NPs.
Source: ChemRxiv
Institutions: University of Copenhagen, Aarhus University
Language: English
Subfield: Materials Chemistry
Field: Materials Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7223175295