Credit: Image courtesy of Central Michigan University and SUNY at Binghamton
Palladium-nickel nanoparticles (top structural model) are synthesized and then exposed to reactive gases (lower right) while being probed with high-energy x-rays. The x-ray scattering pattern (lower left) is used to refine the structural model and direct further synthesis and post-synthesis treatment toward an optimal atomic neighborhood for nanoparticle surfaces.