Green Synthesis of Ag-Cu Nanoalloys Using Opuntia ficus-indica

Bimetallic Ag/Cu nanoparticles have been obtained by green synthesis using Opuntia ficus-indica plant extract. Two synthesis methods were applied to obtain nanoparticles with core–shell and Janus morphologies by reversing the order of precursors. Transmission electronic microscopy revealed size of 10 nm and 20 nm for the core–shell and Janus nanoparticles, respectively. Other small particles with size of up to 2 nm were also observed. Absorption bands attributed to surface plasmon resonance were detected at 440 nm and 500 nm for the core–shell and Janus nanoparticles, respectively. Density functional theory predicted a breathing mode type (BMT) located at low wavenumber due to small, low-energy clusters of (AgCu)_n with n = 2 to 9, showing a certain correlation with the experimental one (at 220 cm⁻¹). The dependence of the BMT on the number of atoms constituting the cluster is also studied.