In recent decades, many researchers have turned their attention to gold nanostructures for their unique energetic phenomena. Their extensive properties can be utilized in both advanced research and general applications, with various studies showing their potential in catalysis, sensing, medical imaging, drug delivery, and more. This is especially true of gold nanoclusters that have gained interest due to their morphological and electronic tunability, through methods such as ligand-exchange and heterometal doping. To date, the most researched nanocluster has been the atomically precise, ultra-small, and magic-numbered Au25 nanocluster. This nanocluster can form in two different structural morphologies: the icosahedron and bi-icosahedron. One property of the Au25 nanocluster is its capability to be doped by other metallic atoms. Experimentally, this doping has been achieved with Ag and Pd, and is theoretically achievable with the other transition metals. In a previous publication, cadmium-doped and mercury-doped stable Au25 icosahedral nanoclusters were synthesized. The goal of this project is to synthesize novel cadmium-doped and mercury-doped Au25 bi-icosahedral nanoclusters. Moreover, varying ligands will be utilized and tested to determine their effect on the electronic configuration. The nanoclusters have been characterized using UV-vis, fluorescence, NMR, and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, as well as scanning-transmission electron microscopy, and electrochemical analysis. These data will then be used to compare the Cd-doped, Hg-doped, and un-doped Au25 bi-icosahedrons to determine the relative efficiency of the doped nanoclusters in optical phenomena.

Synthesis and characterization of novel mercury-doped and cadmium-doped Au25 bi-icosahedron nanoclusters

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