Preparation of Gold-Silver Alloy Nanoparticles Supported on NiCo2O4 Spinel Oxides for the Treatment of CO in Atmosphere.

Heterometallics are an important class of catalysts. Alloy nanoparticles have higher activities than monometallic counterparts in catalysis because of the synergistic effects between the two metals. The Ni-Co composition, which is a typical alloy chemical composition, has a remarkable effect on catalytic activity. Ni-Co mixed oxides were characterized by thermal effect, X-ray diffraction, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, Scanning Electron Microscope and BET specific surface area techniques. X-ray diffraction show that the formation of small spinel oxides nanoparticles. Very small amounts of gold-silver alloy nanoparticles deposited on such mixed oxides improve the catalytical activity for CO oxidation.