Investigating the cooridnation of PtAg Nanoclusters in ZIF-8 by in situ HERFD-XANES studies

Photon-in photon-out X-ray spectroscopy opens a road to study homogeneous reactions in solution of low concentrated samples in highly crystalline sample environments, where scattering investigation methods are facing limits. We propose to use the element specific in situ HERFD-XANES to track the nucleation of PtAg nanoclusters in ZIF-8 (PtAgNCs@ZIF-8) which gain high interest with promising catalytic properties. We would like to monitor that PtAg nanoclusters are growing inside the ZIF-8 by probing the Pt L3-Edge by checking a possible coordination of the PtAgNCs on the imidazole inside the ZIF-8. It enables to detect possible intermediate states and track the interaction between nitrogen and nanostructure at every step of the synthesis.