The main scientific objective of the Nanoalloys IRN is to consolidate existing scientific collaborations and to promote new collaborations at the international level, on the topics which are now at the forefront of research in nanoalloys. These topics can be broadly grouped into few classes/workpackages (WP). The first WP deals with equilibrium properties of nanoalloys in different environments, with the aim of determining size- and composition-dependent phase diagrams. The second WP includes a variety of non-equilibrium effects, such as those occurring during nanoalloy synthesis and growth, or those related to ageing under the long-time action of the environment. The third WP includes the study of structure-property relationships, for what concerns magnetic, catalytic and optical properties.
The vast majority of these research topics includes both experimental and theory/modelling aspects.
Each WP is divided into subtopics:
Equilibrium properties: structure and environment effects
- Size-dependent nanoalloy phase diagrams and transitions
- Effects of the environment
- Strain engineering in binary and ternary nanoalloys
Out-of-equilibrium effects: kinetic, mobility and environment
- Growth Kinetics
- Ageing : from metastable initial state to equilibrium
- Collective effects in assemblies of nanoalloys
Nanoalloy properties and their relationship with structure and environment
- Catalytic properties: pressure gap, surface segregation, stability and chemical reactivity
- Magnetic properties: morphologies, strain and coupling nanocomposites to improve magnetic moment and anisotropy
- Optical properties: effect of the matrix or surrounding ligands, morphologies and coupling in nanohybrids to tailor plasmonic properties