Synthesis and electron microscopy of high entropy alloy nanoparticles

Abstract This work provides a methodology for synthesizing isolated multi-component, high entropy alloy nanoparticles. Wet chemical synthesis technique was used to synthesis NiFeCrCuCo nanoparticles. As synthesized nanoparticles were spherical with an average size of 26.7±3.3 nm. Average composition of the as-synthesized nanoparticle dispersion was 26±2 at% Cr, 14±2 at% Fe, 10±0.6 at% Co, 25±0.1 at% Ni and 25±1.1 at% Cu. Compositional analysis of the nanoparticles conducted using the compositional line profile analysis and compositional mapping on a single nanoparticle level revealed a fairly uniform distribution of all the five component elements within the nanoparticle volume. Electron diffraction analysis clearly revealed that the structure of as-synthesized nanoparticles was face centered cubic.