Identification of a Highly Luminescent Au22(SG)18 Nanocluster
Citations Over TimeTop 1% of 2014 papers
Abstract
The luminescence property of thiolated gold nanoclusters (Au NCs) is thought to involve the Au(I)-thiolate motifs on the NC surface; however, this hypothesis remains largely unexplored because of the lack of precise molecular composition and structural information of highly luminescent Au NCs. Here we report a new red-emitting thiolated Au NC, which has a precise molecular formula of Au22(SR)18 and exhibits intense luminescence. Interestingly, this new Au22(SR)18 species shows distinctively different absorption and emission features from the previously reported Au22(SR)16, Au22(SR)17, and Au25(SR)18. In stark contrast, Au22(SR)18 luminesces intensely at ∼665 nm with a high quantum yield of ∼8%, while the other three Au NCs show very weak luminescence. Our results indicate that the luminescence of Au22(SR)18 originates from the long Au(I)-thiolate motifs on the NC surface via the aggregation-induced emission pathway. Structure prediction by density functional theory suggests that Au22(SR)18 has two RS-[Au-SR]3 and two RS-[Au-SR]4 motifs, interlocked and capping on a prolate Au8 core. This predicted structure is further verified experimentally by Au L3-edge X-ray absorption fine structure analysis.
Related Papers
- → New Advances in Atomically Precise Silver Nanoclusters(2019)142 cited
- → Modulation of the Double-Helical Cores: A New Strategy for Structural Predictions of Thiolate-Protected Gold Nanoclusters(2020)18 cited
- → Fluorescent Film Sensors Based on Fluorescent Gold and Silver Nanoclusters(2015)5 cited
- → Photophysical Characterization of Fluorescent Lysozyme Stabilized Gold Nanoclusters and their Applications(2016)1 cited
- → Assembly of metal nanoclusters(2023)