Controlling ultrasmall gold nanoparticles with atomic precision

Abstract

The synthesis strategy, methods and parameters for atomically precise gold nanoclusters were reviewed, and future outlook was also proposed.

To inorganic nanoparticles via nanoclusters: Nonclassical nucleation and growth pathway

“…Recent studies show that several numbers of discrete Au atoms are observed during the synthesis of Au NPs, indicating that crystal growth via the nonclassical nucleation model is a universal concept 26,34–36,96–100 . Kinetic control on the growth by controlling precursor‐to‐ligand ratio shows Au nanoclusters or complexes are metastable intermediates between the precursor and NPs in the synthesis of Au NPs 35 .…”

Catalytic Conversion of C 1 Molecules on Atomically Precise Metal Nanoclusters

“…41 catalyst without the internal vacancy exhibited a poor conversion of CO 2 with the similar selectivity toward DME (Figure 16b). Furthermore, the changes of ligands for Au 24 and Au 25 were recorded by in situ FT-IR, showing that the removal rate of the ligands containing PPh 3 and thiolate from Au 24 was relatively slow, while it was rapid from Au 25 surfaces. Therefore, the Au 24 nanocluster with internal vacancy mitigated sintering into a large-size nano-crystal and in turn exhibited excellent catalytic properties during the process.…”

“…To date, significant achievements have been made toward the atomically precise metal nanoclusters in terms of synthesis, characterization and structure-reactivity relationship, and the relevant progresses can be summarized in recent reviews. [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25] However, less summary and perspective have been made in the C 1 transformation catalyzed by metal nanoclusters. In this review, research processes of nanoclusters for C 1 conversion are highlighted, including thermal-driven reaction processes, such as CO Au 25 (SNap) 18 and Au 25 (PPh 3 ) 10 (PET) 5 X 2 and the large ligand steric hindrance of Au 25 (PPh 3 ) 10 (PET) 5 X 2 .…”

On the Roles of Electron Transfer in Catalysis by Nanoclusters and Nanoparticles

“…Pioneered by the seminal article from Zhu et al in 2008 reporting the correct crystal structure of Au 25 (SCH 2 Ph) 18 , [16] this key nanocluster family has then attracted considerable attention with a lot of valuable work during the last decade (Figure 1). [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29] The gold, silver and mixed gold-silver NCs are the most frequent precisely defined NCs, eventually blended with (most often) Pd or Pt atoms, and their size ranges from less than 10 units to more than hundred metal atoms and even occasionally several hundred atoms. [18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28] This NC family with precisely defined structures fortunately contains many examples of efficient catalysts for a large number of reactions.…”

“…[16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29] The gold, silver and mixed gold-silver NCs are the most frequent precisely defined NCs, eventually blended with (most often) Pd or Pt atoms, and their size ranges from less than 10 units to more than hundred metal atoms and even occasionally several hundred atoms. [18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28] This NC family with precisely defined structures fortunately contains many examples of efficient catalysts for a large number of reactions. [20,[29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37] Therefore, it has recently been possible to establish a relationship between the structure and the catalytic activity of these nanoclusters, insofar as the precise structural change or its absence can be followed by physicochemical techniques along the catalytic reaction, which provides understanding of the catalytic mechanism, a feature of great interest.…”