Crystallographic characterization of laser-generated, polymer-stabilized 4 nm silver-gold alloyed nanoparticles

Highlights: • Silver-gold nanoalloays can be prepared by chemical synthesis and by laser ablation. • The preparation by laser ablation leads to homogenous nanoparticles without gradients in elemental composition. • Silver and gold occur in a solid solution without a deviation from Vegard's rule. • X-ray powder diffraction is well suited to characterize small nanoparticles (4 nm). • The composition of nanoparticles from laser ablation is the same as that of the laser target.