Synthesis of Fe3O4/PdO heterodimer nanocrystals in silica nanospheres and their controllable transformation into Fe3O4/Pd heterodimers and FePd nanocrystals

The thermal annealing of silica nanospheres encapsulating Fe3O4 nanocrystals and Pd2+ complexes led to the formation of heterodimers consisting of Fe3O4 and PdO nanoparticles encapsulated in a silica shell, allowing for their controllable transformation into either Fe3O4/Pd heterodimers or FePd alloy nanocrystals through a solid state reduction process.