A1 Journal article (refereed)
Magnetically induced currents and aromaticity in ligand-stabilized Au and AuPt superatoms (2021)

López-Estrada, O., Zuniga-Gutierrez, B., Selenius, E., Malola, S., & Häkkinen, H. (2021). Magnetically induced currents and aromaticity in ligand-stabilized Au and AuPt superatoms. Nature Communications, 12, Article 2477. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-22715-x

JYU authors or editors

Lopez Estrada, Omar
Malola, Sami
Häkkinen, Hannu

Publication details

All authors or editors: López-Estrada, Omar; Zuniga-Gutierrez, Bernardo; Selenius, Elli; Malola, Sami; Häkkinen, Hannu

Journal or series: Nature Communications

eISSN: 2041-1723

Publication year: 2021

Publication date: 30/04/2021

Volume: 12

Article number: 2477

Publisher: Nature Publishing Group

Publication country: United Kingdom

Publication language: English

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-22715-x

Publication open access: Openly available

Publication channel open access: Open Access channel

Publication is parallel published (JYX): https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/75282

Additional information: Author Correction. Nat Commun 13, 506 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-28053-w

Abstract

Understanding magnetically induced currents (MICs) in aromatic or metallic nanostructures is crucial for interpreting local magnetic shielding and NMR data. Direct measurements of the induced currents have been successful only in a few planar molecules but their indirect effects are seen in NMR shifts of probe nuclei. Here, we have implemented a numerically efficient method to calculate gauge-including MICs in the formalism of auxiliary density functional theory. We analyze the currents in two experimentally synthesized gold-based, hydrogen-containing ligand-stabilized nanoclusters [HAu9(PPh3)8]2+ and [PtHAu8(PPh3)8]+. Both clusters have a similar octet configuration of Au(6s)-derived delocalized “superatomic” electrons. Surprisingly, Pt-doping in gold increases the diatropic response of the superatomic electrons to an external magnetic field and enhances the aromaticity of [PtHAu8(PPh3)8]+. This is manifested by a stronger shielding of the hydrogen proton in the metal core of the cluster as compared to [HAu9(PPh3)8]2+, causing a significant upfield shift in agreement with experimental proton NMR data measured for these two clusters. Our method allows the determination of local magnetic shielding properties for any component in large 3D nanostructures, opening the door for detailed interpretation of complex NMR spectra.

Keywords: nanoparticles; electric current; computational chemistry; density functional theory

Free keywords: computational chemistry; method development; nanoparticles

Fields of science: