Reacting the unreactive: a toolbox of low-temperature solution-mediated reactions for the facile interconversion of nanocrystalline intermetallic compounds

Metallurgical materials, including intermetallic compounds, are notoriously inert toward low-temperature reactivity. However, as nanocrystals, their reactivity is significantly enhanced. Here we show that intermetallic PtSn and AuCu nanocrystals can be converted, in solution at low temperatures, into derivative intermetallics. For example, PtSn can be converted into PtSn2 and Pt3Sn by reaction with SnCl2 and K2PtCl6, respectively. The reactions are also reversible, for example, the sequences PtSn --> PtSn2 --> PtSn and PtSn --> Pt3Sn --> PtSn are all readily achievable. The strategy also allows nanocrystalline AuCu to be successfully converted into AuCu3 via reaction with Cu(C2H3O2)2.H2O, suggesting that this approach may be general.