In molecular inorganic chemistry, the last century has soundly established the fact that ligands can be used to tune the electronic structure of metal centers, thereby controlling the ultimate behavior of the metal---be it catalytic, spectroscopic, or electrochemical. In this talk, I will demonstrate that inspiration from molecular inorganic chemistry can be directly borrowed to control the electronic structure of metallic nanoparticles. In particular, we demonstrate that ideas like sigma-donation and pi-backbonding are relevant to controlling solid-state properties like the Fermi energy and density of states through the surface chemistry of metallic nanoparticles. We will demonstrate our approach and results for systems including gold, silver, copper, palladium, platinum, and iridium. Taken together, our work shows that ligands should be considered when seeking to control desirable behaviors of metallic nanoparticles---be they catalytic, spectroscopy, or electrochemical.

When your metal center is a thousand atoms: Using surface chemistry to control the electronic structure of metallic nanoparticles

Where thousands of chemistry professionals meet to share ideas and advance scientific and technical knowledge. Spring 2023 abstracts, posters, and presentations will launch at the end of March.

ACS Spring 2023

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