Issue 37, 2019

Reversible nanocluster structure transformation between face-centered cubic and icosahedral isomers

Abstract

Structural transformations between isomers of nanoclusters provide a platform to tune their properties and understand the fundamental science due to their intimate structure–property correlation. Herein, we demonstrate a reversible transformation between the face-centered cubic (FCC) and icosahedral isomers of Pt1Ag28 nanoclusters accomplished in the ligand-exchange processes. Ligand-exchange of 1-adamantanethiolate protected Pt1Ag28 by cyclohexanethiolate could transform the FCC kernel to the icosahedral isomer. Interestingly, the icosahedral Pt1Ag28 could be reversibly transformed to the FCC configuration when the cyclohexanethiolate ligand is replaced again by 1-adamantanethiolate. A combination of UV-vis absorption, mass spectrometry, photo-luminescence and X-ray absorption fine structure unambiguously identifies that the FCC-to-icosahedral structure transformation of Pt1Ag28 involves two distinct stages: (i) ligand-exchange induced outmost motif transformation and (ii) abrupt innermost kernel transformation. As a result of this structural transformation, the emission wavelength of Pt1Ag28 red-shifts from 672 to 720 nm, and the HOMO–LUMO energy gap reduces from 1.86 to 1.74 eV. This work presents the first example of nanocluster isomers with inter-switching configurations, and will provide new insights into manipulating the properties of nanoclusters through controllably tuning their structures.

Graphical abstract: Reversible nanocluster structure transformation between face-centered cubic and icosahedral isomers

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
01 Jun 2019
Accepted
03 Aug 2019
First published
05 Aug 2019
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY license

Chem. Sci., 2019,10, 8685-8693

Reversible nanocluster structure transformation between face-centered cubic and icosahedral isomers

X. Kang, L. Huang, W. Liu, L. Xiong, Y. Pei, Z. Sun, S. Wang, S. Wei and M. Zhu, Chem. Sci., 2019, 10, 8685 DOI: 10.1039/C9SC02667C

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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