Search results for "Gold nanoclusters"

Metal Doping of Au25(SR)18- Clusters : Insights and Hindsights

2019

The structure, properties, and applications of atomically precise gold nanoclusters are the object of active research worldwide. Over the last few years, research has been also focusing on selective doping of metal nanoclusters through introduction of foreign-metal atoms. Doping has been studied for several clusters, especially the atomically precise Au25(SR)18. Doping has been carried out with noble metals, such as platinum, and less noble metals, such as cadmium and mercury, also because of the ease by which monodoping can be achieved with these metals. Previous studies, which relied extensively on the use of mass spectrometry and single crystal X-ray crystallography, led to assign the sp…

ZnO Nanowires catalytic solution growth for piezotronic and bio-applications

2016

Photodynamics of a Molecular Water-Soluble Nanocluster Identified as Au130(pMBA)50

2015

Photodynamics of a highly monodisperse sample of a water-soluble gold nanocluster tentatively identified as Au130(pMBA)50 (pMBA = p-mercaptobenzoic acid) was studied by mid-IR transient absorption spectroscopy with visible excitation. The observed long-lived excited states (>1 ns) indicate a molecular behavior of the cluster. By combining the transient absorption data with DFT calculation results the observed relaxation dynamics could be fully explained by identifying several relaxation processes involving singlet and triplet manifolds. The results indicate that the cluster may have interesting transient magnetic properties due to a long-lived triplet population.

Chemically Selective Imaging of Individual Bonds through Scanning Electron Energy-Loss Spectroscopy : Disulfide Bridges Linking Gold Nanoclusters

2020

As proof-of-principle of chemically selective, spatially resolved imaging of individual bonds, we carry out electron energy-loss spectroscopy in a scanning transmission electron microscopy instrument on atomically precise, thiolate-coated gold nanoclusters linked with 5,5′-bis(mercaptomethyl)-2,2′-bipyridine dithiol ligands. The images allow the identification of bridging disulfide bonds (R–S–S–R) between clusters, and X-ray photoelectron spectra support the finding. peerReviewed

Surface modification of gold nanoparticles and nanoclusters

2016

Gold nanoparticles are used in many beneficial technological applications in biochemistry, medicine and electronics. Among them, monolayer protected gold nanoclusters (MPCs) have received a significant attention in the scientific community due to their well-defined atomic structure, which is important for fundamental studies of nanoparticles properties and their functionalization. These particles, with a precise number of atoms, exhibit size-dependent optical, chemical and electronic properties. The thesis focuses on the structure, preparation, characterization, and properties of MPCs. For multifunctional applications, gold nanoparticles are an ideal class of compounds for surface functiona…

Covalently linked multimers of gold nanoclusters Au102(p-MBA)44 and Au∼250(p-MBA)n

2016

We present the synthesis, separation, and characterization of covalently-bound multimers of para-mercaptobenzoic acid (p-MBA) protected gold nanoclusters. The multimers were synthesized by performing a ligand-exchange reaction of a pre-characterized Au102(p-MBA)44 nanocluster with biphenyl-4,4′-dithiol (BPDT). The reaction products were separated using gel electrophoresis yielding several distinct bands. The bands were analyzed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) revealing monomer, dimer, and trimer fractions of the nanocluster. TEM analysis of dimers in combination with molecular dynamics simulations suggest that the nanoclusters are covalently bound via a disulfide bridge between BP…

Pd2Au36(SR)(24) cluster: structure studies

2015

The location of the Pd atoms in Pd2Au36(SC2H4Ph)(24), is studied both experimentally and theoretically. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) indicates oxidized Pd atoms. Palladium K-edge extended X-ray absorption fine-structure (EXAFS) data clearly show Pd-S bonds, which is supported by far infrared spectroscopy and by comparing theoretical EXAFS spectra in R space and circular dichroism spectra of the staple, surface and core doped structures with experimental spectra.

Towards Controlled Synthesis of Water-Soluble Gold Nanoclusters : Synthesis and Analysis

2019

Water-soluble gold nanoclusters with well-defined molecular structures and stability possess particular biophysical properties making them excellent candidates for biological applications as well as for fundamental spectroscopic studies. The currently existing synthetic protocols for atomically monodisperse thiolate-protected gold nanoclusters (AuMPCs) have been widely expanded with organothiolates, yet the direct synthesis reports for water-soluble AuMPCs are still deficient. Here, we demonstrate a wet-chemistry pH-controlled synthesis of two large water-soluble nanoclusters utilizing p-mercaptobenzoic acid (pMBA), affording different sizes of plasmonic AuMPCs on the preparative scale (∼7 …

Jahn–Teller effects in Au25(SR)18

2016

The relationship between oxidation state, structure, and magnetism in many molecules is well described by first-order Jahn–Teller distortions. This relationship is not yet well defined for ligated nanoclusters and nanoparticles, especially the nano-technologically relevant gold-thiolate protected metal clusters. Here we interrogate the relationships between structure, magnetism, and oxidation state for the three stable oxidation states, −1, 0 and +1 of the thiolate protected nanocluster Au25(SR)18. We present the single crystal X-ray structures of the previously undetermined charge state Au25(SR)18+1, as well as a higher quality single crystal structure of the neutral compound Au25(SR)180. …

A Unified AMBER-Compatible Molecular Mechanics Force Field for Thiolate-Protected Gold Nanoclusters.

2016

We present transferable AMBER-compatible force field parameters for thiolate-protected gold nanoclusters. Five different sized clusters containing both organo-soluble and water-soluble thiolate ligands served as test systems in MD simulations, and parameters were validated against DFT and experimental results. The cluster geometries remain intact during the MD simulations in various solvents, and structural fluctuations and energetics showed agreement with DFT calculations. Experimental diffusion coefficients and crystal structures were also reproduced with sufficient accuracy. The presented parameter set contains the minimum number of cluster-specific parameters enabling the use of these p…