Purification and separation of ultra-small metal nanoclusters

Atomically Precise Alloy Nanoclusters

“…Using co‐reduction, it is possible to synthesize alloy NCs with various numbers of constituent atoms simultaneously. However, this also means that to obtain alloy NCs with a defined chemical composition by co‐reduction, it is necessary to separate the obtained mixture with high resolution [95, 96] . In many cases, separation methods such as solvent extraction, column separation, and electrophoretic separation have been used to separate these mixtures [22–51] .…”

“…However, this also means that to obtain alloy NCs with ad efined chemical compositionb yc o-reduction,i ti sn ecessary to separatet he obtained mixture with high resolution. [95,96] In many cases, separation methods such as solvent extraction, columns eparation, and electrophoretic separation have been used to separate these mixtures. In addition, in the co-reduction, alloy NCs are synthesized by aggregation of two (or more) types of metal atoms generated by reduction.Therefore, if the redox potentials of the metal precursors are quite different, it is not easy to form alloy NCs by co-reduction.T hus, alloy NCs synthesized by this method are currently limited to alloy NCs containing Au, Ag, copper(Cu), platinum (Pt), palladium (Pd), and nickel (Ni).…”

Biomolecular interactions of ultrasmall metallic nanoparticles and nanoclusters

“…52 usGNPs displaying overly broad size distributions are not suitable for rigorous quantitative interaction studies and require prior size purication/separation. 164,165 The colloidal stability of usGNPs in the appropriate buffer or biological medium must also be carefully evaluated. A number of biophysical techniques (e.g., uorescence spectroscopy) cannot yield reliable quantitative data unless NPs and proteins remain individually dispersed.…”

Systemic and single cell level responses to 1 nm size biomaterials demonstrate distinct biological effects revealed by multi-omics atlas

“…Due to their unique chemical, optical, electrical and magnetic properties, inorganic nanoparticles (NPs, 1–100 nm) have been extensively studied for their clinical application potentials [ [1] , [2] , [3] , [4] ]. Recently, as the new generation NPs, ultra-small nanoclusters (USNCs, < 2 nm), have attracted growing research interests [ 3 , 4 ]. With their distinct small size, USNCs displayed superior performance in biomedical imaging and therapeutic applications [ [5] , [6] , [7] , [8] , [9] ].…”