Study of exsolution mechanism in ferrite-based materials doped with Ni and Cu through in-situ diffraction for Rietveld and Paid Distribution

The exsolution method for the synthesis of supported nanoparticles has been gaining much attention in the last decade due to its enhanced electrocatalytic properties. Ferrite-based materials , which are characterized by a particularly electrochemical activity, have been largely explored for the exsolution from B-site of reducible non-noble metals/alloy. Hereby, we propose to investigate the exsolution mechanism in a general system La0.9-αSrαFe1-xMxO3 [with α = 0.1, 0.35, and Mx = Ni0.1, or (Ni0.05, Cu0.05)]. Our aim is to investigate the structural changes that occur during the Ni, Cu and Fe exsolution process to form alloy NPs. We believe, diffraction data analysed by Rietveld method combined with Paid Distribution Function will be seminal to investigate the structure at atomic level of matrix and exsolved nanoparticles and achieve important correlations with the electrochemical properties of the materials.