Radioactive Bimetallic Gold-Silver Nanoparticles Production in a Research Nuclear Reactor

Synthesis of radioactive, bimetallic nanoparticles was successfully accomplished using the Missouri S&T research nuclear reactor (MSTR). Aqueous solutions of 2 mM gold chloride and 2 mM silver nitrate were prepared and mixed with a solution of 1 mM polyvinylpyrrolidone and 60 mM of 2-propanol. Four different samples with volume ratios of 70/30, 50/50, 30/70, and 0/100 of Au/Ag were irradiated at a reactor thermal power of 10 kW for 3 min. The morphology, crystal structure, and chemical composition of the resulting nanoparticles were characterized with Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Gatan Microscopy Suite Software and the Java-based image-processing program ImageJ. It was found that the structure obtained depended on the composition of the irradiated sample, with production of core-shell and alloyed nanoparticles obtained at different conditions.