Determining the total structures of nanoparticles constitutes a major goal in nanoscience research. Gold nanoparticles are particularly attractive due to their extraordinary stability and elegant optical properties. A prerequisite to total structure determination is to obtain atomically precise nanoparticles, which had been a major challenge in the past research and thus hampered the pursuit of fundamental science of nanoparticles. We have recently developed successful methodologies for synthesizing a series of atomically precise gold nanoparticles protected by thiolates (denoted as Aun(SR)m, with n ranging from a few dozens to several hundreds). Such ultrasmall nanoparticles (ca. 1-3 nm) exhibit distinct quantum size effects and interesting electronic/optical properties, which are fundamentally different from their larger counterparts--plasmonic nanoparticles. New types of atom-packing structures have been discovered in Aun(SR)m nanoparticles through X-ray crystallographic analysis. These well-defined nanoclusters also serve as new model catalysts for atomic level structure-activity correlation and offer fundamental understanding on nanocatalysis.

Total structures of atomically precise gold nanoparticles and beyond

248th National Meeting (2014)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.