Quantitative characterisation of surfaces on bi-metallic Pt nanoparticles using combined exit wave restoration and aberration-corrected TEM

The active components of heterogeneous catalysts are often small metallic particles, whose reactivity and selectivity depend on the structure of their surfaces. In particular, the surface defect structures such as steps and kinks play a key role in their catalytic properties [1]. However, little is known about the detailed surface structures on nanoparticles (<10nm) at atomic resolution, as commonly used surface characterisation techniques are not suitable for nanoparticles of such size range.