The Magic Au60 Nanocluster: A New Cluster-Assembled Material with Five Au13 Building Blocks

Yongbo Song; Fangyu Fu; Jun Zhang; Jinsong Chai; Xi Kang; Peng Li; Shengli Li; Hongping Zhou; Manzhou Zhu

doi:10.1002/anie.201501830

The Magic Au60 Nanocluster: A New Cluster-Assembled Material with Five Au13 Building Blocks

Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2015 Jul 13;54(29):8430-4. doi: 10.1002/anie.201501830. Epub 2015 May 27.

Authors

Yongbo Song¹, Fangyu Fu¹, Jun Zhang¹, Jinsong Chai¹, Xi Kang¹, Peng Li¹, Shengli Li¹, Hongping Zhou¹, Manzhou Zhu²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry and Centre for Atomic Engineering of Advanced Materials, Anhui University, Hefei, Anhui, 230601 (P. R. China).
² Department of Chemistry and Centre for Atomic Engineering of Advanced Materials, Anhui University, Hefei, Anhui, 230601 (P. R. China). zmz@ahu.edu.cn.

PMID: 26012487
DOI: 10.1002/anie.201501830

Abstract

Herein, we report the synthesis and atomic structure of the cluster-assembled [Au60Se2(Ph3P)10(SeR)15](+) material. Five icosahedral Au13 building blocks from a closed gold ring with Au-Se-Au linkages. Interestingly, two Se atoms (without the phenyl tail) locate in the center of the cluster, stabilized by the Se-(Au)5 interactions. The ring-like nanocluster is unprecedented in previous experimental and theoretical studies of gold nanocluster structures. In addition, our optical and electrochemical studies show that the electronic properties of the icosahedral Au13 units still remain unchanged in the penta-twinned Au60 nanocluster, and this new material might be a promising in optical limiting material. This work offers a basis for deep understanding on controlling the cluster-assembled materials for tailoring their functionalities.

Keywords: cluster-assembled materials; crystallography; gold nanoclusters; selenolate; surface chemistry.