A1 Journal article (refereed)
Robust, Highly Luminescent Au13 Superatoms Protected by N-Heterocyclic Carbenes (2019)

Narouz, M. R., Takano, S., Lummis, P. A., Levchenko, T. I., Nazemi, A., Kaappa, S., Malola, S., Yousefalizadeh, G., Calhoun, L. A., Stamplecoskie, K. G., Häkkinen, H., Tsukuda, T., & Crudden, C. M. (2019). Robust, Highly Luminescent Au13 Superatoms Protected by N-Heterocyclic Carbenes. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 141(38), 14997-15002. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.9b07854

JYU authors or editors

Kaappa, Sami
Malola, Sami
Häkkinen, Hannu

Publication details

All authors or editors: Narouz, Mina R.; Takano, Shinjiro; Lummis, Paul A.; Levchenko, Tetyana I.; Nazemi, Ali; Kaappa, Sami; Malola, Sami; Yousefalizadeh, Goonay; Calhoun, Larry A.; Stamplecoskie, Kevin G.; et al.

Journal or series: Journal of the American Chemical Society

ISSN: 0002-7863

eISSN: 1520-5126

Publication year: 2019

Volume: 141

Issue number: 38

Pages range: 14997-15002

Publisher: American Chemical Society

Publication country: United States

Publication language: English

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.9b07854

Publication open access: Not open

Publication channel open access:

Publication is parallel published (JYX): https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/65528

Abstract

Gold superatom nanoclusters stabilized entirely by N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) are reported. The reduction of well-defined NHC–Au–Cl complexes produces clusters com-prised of an icosahedral Au13 core surrounded by a symmetrical arrangement of 9 NHCs and 3 chlorides. X-ray crystallography shows that the clusters are characterized by multiple CH–π and π–π interactions, which rigidify the ligand and likely con-tribute to the exceptionally high photoluminescent quantum yields observed, up to 16.0 %, which is significantly greater than the most luminescent ligand-protected Au13 superatom cluster. Density functional theory analysis suggests that clus-ters are 8-electron superatoms with a wide HOMO-LUMO energy gap of 2 eV. Consistent with this, the clusters have high stability relative to all-phosphine clusters.

Keywords: nanoparticles; x-ray crystallography

Free keywords: nanoclusters; gold superatom nanoclusters; crystallography

Fields of science: