Fig. 2: Compositional design and pulsed-annealing synthesis of HEA/c-PdSn.
a The formation energy between each element, guiding the compositional design of heterostructured HEAs. b The formation energy of Pd-Sn, Pd-Fe, Pd-Co, and Pd-Ni, highlighting the ordering and clustering of PdSn. c The surface energy of Pd, Sn, Fe, Co, Ni, FeCoNi, PdSnFeCoNi, Pd2Sn2FeCoNi, and PdSn, indicating easy surface segregation of PdSn. d The temperature profiles used in the synthesis of HEA/c-PdSn, including high-temperature thermal shock and pulsed annealing. e Comparison of the size distribution and (f–h) TEM images of the HEA samples before and after pulsed annealing (PA), and furnace annealing (FA). i, j Elemental mappings of the HEA samples (i) before and (j) after pulsed annealing. The sample before PA shows uniform mixing of each element (i.e., Pd, Sn, Fe, Co, and Ni) throughout the nanoparticle. After PA, the elements of Fe, Co, and Ni remain in uniform mixing, while the Pd and Sn emerge from the HEA matrix, forming nanoclusters embedded in the HEA matrix. Error bars represent standard deviations calculated from nanoparticle size distributions measured by TEM image analysis using ImageJ software. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.
