New opportunities to understand heterogeneous catalysis processes on nanoscale bimetallic particles through synchrotron radiation and theoretical studies

New advances in theoretical background and recent experimental results concerning nanoscale bimetallic clusters are presented. From theoretical point of view, we will show how both the relaxation of the intermetallic distances and the chemical local ordering can be predicted from the electronic structure. Here, we compare these predictions at thermodynamical equilibrium to a review of recent results obtained using XAS for bimetallic systems Pt-M where M is a 4d transition metal. Even though the distribution of the two species inside the cluster can be affected by preparation parameters, such as, the nature of the precursor, it appears that these theoretical calculations are a valuable starting point for the study of such entities. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.