Crystalline to amorphous transformation in solid-solution alloy nanoparticles induced by boron doping.

We synthesized a palladium-ruthenium-boron (Pd-Ru-B) solid-solution ternary alloy. Elemental mappings confirmed successful alloying of B with Pd-Ru body without changing the particle sizes, demonstrating the first discovery of this ternary alloy. Pair distribution function analysis revealed a drastic decrease in atomic correlation in Pd-Ru nanoparticles by B doping. This result gives the first example of structural transformation from crystalline to amorphous in solid-solution alloy nanoparticles induced by the doping of light elements.