Regulation of Surface Structure of [Au9Ag12(SAdm)4(Dppm)6Cl6](SbF6)3 Nanocluster via Alloying

Huijuan Deng; Xiaowu Li; Xiaoxun Yan; Shan Jin; Manzhou Zhu

doi:10.3389/fchem.2021.793339

Regulation of Surface Structure of [Au₉Ag₁₂(SAdm)₄(Dppm)₆Cl₆](SbF₆)₃ Nanocluster via Alloying

Front Chem. 2022 Jan 24:9:793339. doi: 10.3389/fchem.2021.793339. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Huijuan Deng^{1

2}, Xiaowu Li^{1

2}, Xiaoxun Yan^{1

2}, Shan Jin^{1

2}, Manzhou Zhu^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry and Centre for Atomic Engineering of Advanced Materials, Key Laboratory of Structure and Functional Regulation of Hybrid Materials of Ministry of Education, Anhui University, Hefei, China.
² Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Chemistry for Inorganic/Organic Hybrid Functionalized Materials, Institutes of Physical Science and Information Technology, Anhui University, Hefei, China.

Abstract

Tailoring of specific sites on the nanocluster surface can tailor the properties of nanoclusters at the atomic level, for the in-depth understanding of structure and property relationship. In this work, we explore the regulation of surface structure of [Au₉Ag₁₂(SAdm)₄(Dppm)₆Cl₆](SbF₆)₃ nanocluster via alloying. We successfully obtained the well-determined tri-metal [Au₉Ag₈@Cu₄(SAdm)₄(Dppm)₆Cl₆](SbF₆)₃ by the reaction of [Au₉Ag₁₂(SAdm)₄(Dppm)₆Cl₆](SbF₆)₃ with the Cu^I(SAdm) complex precursor. X-ray crystallography identifies that the Cu dopants prioritily replace the position of the silver capped by Dppm ligand in the motif. The Cu doping has affected the optical properties of Au₉Ag₁₂ alloy nanocluster. DPV spectra, CD spectra and stability tests suggest that the regulation of surface structure via Cu alloying changes the electronic structure, thereby affecting the electrochemical properties, which provides insight into the regulation of surface structure of [Au₉Ag₁₂(SAdm)₄(Dppm)₆Cl₆](SbF₆)₃ via alloying.

Keywords: alloy engineering; electrochemical properties; intercluster reactions; optical properties; regulation of surface structure.