Crystal structure of Au₂₅(SePh)₁₈ nanoclusters and insights into their electronic, optical and catalytic properties

Yongbo Song; Juan Zhong; Sha Yang; Shuxin Wang; Tiantian Cao; Jun Zhang; Peng Li; Daqiao Hu; Yong Pei; Manzhou Zhu

doi:10.1039/c4nr04631e

Crystal structure of Au₂₅(SePh)₁₈ nanoclusters and insights into their electronic, optical and catalytic properties

Nanoscale. 2014 Nov 21;6(22):13977-85. doi: 10.1039/c4nr04631e.

Authors

Yongbo Song¹, Juan Zhong, Sha Yang, Shuxin Wang, Tiantian Cao, Jun Zhang, Peng Li, Daqiao Hu, Yong Pei, Manzhou Zhu

Affiliation

¹ Department of Chemistry and Center for Atomic Engineering of Advanced Materials, Anhui University, China. zmz@ahu.edu.cn.

PMID: 25317911
DOI: 10.1039/c4nr04631e

Abstract

The crystal structure of selenolate-capped Au25(SePh)18(-) nanoclusters has been unambiguously determined for the first time, and provides a solid basis for a deeper understanding of the structure-property relationships. The selenolate-capped Au25 cluster shows noticeable differences from the previously reported Au25(SCH2CH2Ph)18(-) counterpart, albeit both share the icosahedral Au13 core and semi-ring Au2(SeR)3 or Au2(SR)3 motifs. Distinct differences in the electronic structure and optical, catalytic and electrochemical properties are revealed by the coupling experiments with density functional theory (TD-DFT) calculations. Overall, the successful determination of the Au25(SePh)18(-) structure removes any ambiguity about its structure, and comparison with the thiolated Au25 counterpart helps us to further understand how the ligands affect the properties of the nanocluster.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't