From quaternary to senary high entropy antimonide nanoparticles by a facile and scalable thermal treatment method

• Published in: Materials research bulletin 2022-09, Vol.153, p.111873, Article 111873
• Main Authors: Soltani, Nayereh, Rahman, Jamil Ur, Carvalho, Patricia Almeida, Bazioti, Calliope, Finstad, Terje
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Crystal structure; Electron microscopy; Intermetallic compounds; Nanostructures; X-ray diffraction
• ISSN: 0025-5408; 1873-4227
• DOI: 10.1016/j.materresbull.2022.111873

•Preparing a new class of multicomponent/high entropy antimonide nanoparticles.•Substituting the lattice sites of intermetallic nanoparticles by a variety of metals.•Obtaining uniform elemental distributions (from quaternary to senary) in a single NP.•A facile, reproducible, and scalable method to prepare new nanoscale compounds. Transition metal antimonides form a class of intermetallic compounds, which has drawn considerable attention due to their potential applications in various fields. However, the formation of nanostructures containing multiple transition metal elements has been a challenge. Here, a new class of multicomponent antimonide nanoparticles with chemical composition ranging from quaternary to senary were synthesized via a simple, reproducible, and scalable thermal treatment method. This method allows uniform elemental distributions in a single nanoparticle, demonstrating the ability to obtain medium- and high-entropy antimonide nanostructures. The mechanism of formation was proposed and the characteristics of obtained nanoparticles were investigated by X-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy, and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. Under the achieved optimal synthesis conditions, the formation of a single-phase with a hexagonal structure (P63/mmc) was observed for the quaternary and quinary samples, whereas in the case of the senary samples, a trace of minor impurity can be observed. [Display omitted]