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Chen Z, Sun F, Tang Q. Thermal Stability and Electronic Properties of N-Heterocyclic Carbene-Protected Au 13 Nanocluster and Phosphine-Protected Analogues. J Phys Chem Lett 2023; 14:10648-10656. [PMID: 38031664 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.3c02965] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2023]
Abstract
Despite significant advances in manufacturing atomically precise gold nanoclusters protected by various ligands, there is a limited understanding of the thermal stability dynamics and electronic properties of ligand effects. We conducted ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) simulations on the well-characterized [Au13(NHCMe)9Cl3]2+ nanocluster and its counterpart [Au13(PMe3)9Cl3]2+ cluster to evaluate the thermal stability induced by N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) and phosphine ligands. The result shows that under vacuum conditions, [Au13(PMe3)9Cl3]2+ is more stable than [Au13(NHCMe)9Cl3]2+, and both lead to metal nucleation decomposition, breaking into the Au12 fragment and L-Au-Cl (L = NHCMe or PMe3) complexes eventually. The optical and electronic properties of these two clusters change significantly due to ligand alteration. Furthermore, we have designed a novel [Au13(NHCMe)(PMe3)8Cl3]2+ cluster coprotected by NHC and phosphine ligands, displaying higher thermal stability than the homoligand protected [Au13(NHCMe)9Cl3]2+ and [Au13(PMe3)9Cl3]2+. Our hypothetical species are an interesting model for nanostructured materials, facilitating the experimental exploration of cluster synthesis and catalytic applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhimin Chen
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Chongqing Key Laboratory of Theoretical and Computational Chemistry, Chongqing University, Chongqing 401331, China
| | - Fang Sun
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Chongqing Key Laboratory of Theoretical and Computational Chemistry, Chongqing University, Chongqing 401331, China
| | - Qing Tang
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Chongqing Key Laboratory of Theoretical and Computational Chemistry, Chongqing University, Chongqing 401331, China
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Sun F, Qin L, Tang Z, Deng G, Bootharaju MS, Wei Z, Tang Q, Hyeon T. -SR removal or -R removal? A mechanistic revisit on the puzzle of ligand etching of Au 25(SR) 18 nanoclusters during electrocatalysis. Chem Sci 2023; 14:10532-10546. [PMID: 37800008 PMCID: PMC10548520 DOI: 10.1039/d3sc03018k] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/13/2023] [Accepted: 09/09/2023] [Indexed: 10/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Accurate identification of active sites is highly desirable for elucidation of the reaction mechanism and development of efficient catalysts. Despite the promising catalytic performance of thiolated metal nanoclusters (NCs), their actual catalytic sites remain elusive. Traditional first-principles calculations and experimental observations suggested dealkylated S and dethiolated metal, respectively, to be the active centers. However, the real kinetic origin of thiolate etching during the electrocatalysis of NCs is still puzzling. Herein, we conducted advanced first-principles calculations and electrochemical/spectroscopic experiments to unravel the electrochemical etching kinetics of thiolate ligands in prototype Au25(SCH3)18 NC. The electrochemical processes are revealed to be spontaneously facilitated by dethiolation (i.e., desorption of -SCH3), forming the free HSCH3 molecule after explicitly including the solvent effect and electrode potential. Thus, exposed under-coordinated Au atoms, rather than the S atoms, serve as the real catalytic sites. The thermodynamically preferred Au-S bond cleavage arises from the selective attack of H from proton/H2O on the S atom under suitable electrochemical bias due to the spatial accessibility and the presence of S lone pair electrons. Decrease of reduction potential promotes the proton attack on S and significantly accelerates the kinetics of Au-S bond breakage irrespective of the pH of the medium. Our theoretical results are further verified by the experimental electrochemical and spectroscopic data. At more negative electrode potentials, the number of -SR ligands decreased with concomitant increase of the vibrational intensity of S-H bonds. These findings together clarify the atomic-level activation mechanism on the surface of Au25(SR)18 NCs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fang Sun
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Chongqing Key Laboratory of Theoretical and Computational Chemistry, Chongqing University Chongqing 401331 China
| | - Lubing Qin
- New Energy Research Institute, School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou Higher Education Mega Center Guangzhou 510006 China
| | - Zhenghua Tang
- New Energy Research Institute, School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou Higher Education Mega Center Guangzhou 510006 China
| | - Guocheng Deng
- Center for Nanoparticle Research, Institute for Basic Science (IBS) Seoul 08826 Republic of Korea
- School of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Institute of Chemical Processes, Seoul National University Seoul 08826 Republic of Korea
| | - Megalamane S Bootharaju
- Center for Nanoparticle Research, Institute for Basic Science (IBS) Seoul 08826 Republic of Korea
- School of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Institute of Chemical Processes, Seoul National University Seoul 08826 Republic of Korea
| | - Zidong Wei
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Chongqing Key Laboratory of Theoretical and Computational Chemistry, Chongqing University Chongqing 401331 China
| | - Qing Tang
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Chongqing Key Laboratory of Theoretical and Computational Chemistry, Chongqing University Chongqing 401331 China
| | - Taeghwan Hyeon
- Center for Nanoparticle Research, Institute for Basic Science (IBS) Seoul 08826 Republic of Korea
- School of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Institute of Chemical Processes, Seoul National University Seoul 08826 Republic of Korea
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Li S, Nagarajan AV, Du X, Li Y, Liu Z, Kauffman DR, Mpourmpakis G, Jin R. Dissecting Critical Factors for Electrochemical CO
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Reduction on Atomically Precise Au Nanoclusters. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2022; 61:e202211771. [DOI: 10.1002/anie.202211771] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Site Li
- Department of Chemistry Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh PA 15213 USA
- National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) United States Department of Energy Pittsburgh, PA USA
| | | | - Xiangsha Du
- Department of Chemistry Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh PA 15213 USA
| | - Yingwei Li
- Department of Chemistry Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh PA 15213 USA
| | - Zhongyu Liu
- Department of Chemistry Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh PA 15213 USA
| | - Douglas R. Kauffman
- National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) United States Department of Energy Pittsburgh, PA USA
| | - Giannis Mpourmpakis
- Department of Chemical Engineering University of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh PA 15261 USA
| | - Rongchao Jin
- Department of Chemistry Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh PA 15213 USA
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Li S, Nagarajan AV, Du X, Li Y, Liu Z, Kauffman DR, Mpourmpakis G, Jin R. Dissecting Critical Factors for Electrochemical CO
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Reduction on Atomically Precise Au Nanoclusters. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2022. [DOI: 10.1002/ange.202211771] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Site Li
- Department of Chemistry Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh PA 15213 USA
- National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) United States Department of Energy Pittsburgh, PA USA
| | | | - Xiangsha Du
- Department of Chemistry Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh PA 15213 USA
| | - Yingwei Li
- Department of Chemistry Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh PA 15213 USA
| | - Zhongyu Liu
- Department of Chemistry Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh PA 15213 USA
| | - Douglas R. Kauffman
- National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) United States Department of Energy Pittsburgh, PA USA
| | - Giannis Mpourmpakis
- Department of Chemical Engineering University of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh PA 15261 USA
| | - Rongchao Jin
- Department of Chemistry Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh PA 15213 USA
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Wei J, Kahlal S, Halet JF, Saillard JY, Muñoz-Castro A. Insight Into the Stability and Electronic and Optical Properties of N-Heterocyclic Carbene Analogues of Halogen/Phosphine-Protected Au 13 Superatomic Clusters. J Phys Chem A 2022; 126:536-545. [PMID: 35044183 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpca.1c09084] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Atomically precise gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) belong to a relevant area offering useful templates with tunable properties toward functional nanostructures. In this work, we explored the feasible incorporation of N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs), as part of the protecting-ligand shell in AuNCs. Our results, which are based on the substitution of phosphine ligands in experimentally characterized AuNCs by NHCs in various eight-electron superatoms Au13 and M4Au9 (M = Cu, Ag), indicate similar electronic structure and stability but somewhat different optical properties. These findings support the feasible obtention of novel targets for explorative synthetic efforts featuring NHC ligands on medium-sized species based on the recurrent Au13 icosahedral core. The hypothetical species appear to be interesting templates for building blocks in nanostructured materials with tuned properties, which encourage experimental exploration of ligand versatility in homo- and heterometallic superatomic clusters.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jianyu Wei
- Institut des Sciences Chimiques de Rennes (ISCR) - UMR 6226, Université de Rennes, CNRS, F-35000 Rennes, France
| | - Samia Kahlal
- Institut des Sciences Chimiques de Rennes (ISCR) - UMR 6226, Université de Rennes, CNRS, F-35000 Rennes, France
| | - Jean-François Halet
- CNRS-Saint-Gobain-NIMS, IRL 3629, Laboratory for Innovative Key Materials and Structures (LINK), National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), Tsukuba 305-0044, Japan
| | - Jean-Yves Saillard
- Institut des Sciences Chimiques de Rennes (ISCR) - UMR 6226, Université de Rennes, CNRS, F-35000 Rennes, France
| | - Alvaro Muñoz-Castro
- Grupo de Química Inorgánica y Materiales Moleculares, Facultad de Ingenieria, Universidad Autonoma de Chile, El Llano Subercaseaux 2801, 8910188 Santiago, Chile
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Han Y, Li J, Zhang X, Xia F, Dai Y. Reversible down-regulation and up-regulation of catalytic activity of poly( N-isopropylacrylamide)-anchored gold nanoparticles. NANOTECHNOLOGY 2022; 33:165601. [PMID: 34986462 DOI: 10.1088/1361-6528/ac487b] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/09/2021] [Accepted: 01/05/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Regulating catalytic activity plays an important role in further optimizing and developing multifunctional catalysts with high selectivity and high activity. Reversible dual regulation of catalytic activity has always been a challenging task. Here, we prepared poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)-anchored gold nanoparticles (AuNP@CDs-Azo-PNIPAM) through host-guest interaction of cyclodextrin capped gold nanoparticles (AuNP@CDs) and azobenzene-terminated poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (Azo-PNIPAM). Azo-PNIPAM as thermal and light responsive ligand allows reversible dual regulation of catalytic activity. When the temperature is higher than the lowest critical solution temperature, the PNIPAM chain shrinks rapidly, increasing the steric hindrance around AuNPs and reducing the catalytic activity. Under ultraviolet light irradiation,cis-azobenzene disassembles from cyclodextrin and the number of surface active sites of AuNPs increases, which improves the catalytic activity. The reaction rate of UV irradiation is almost 1.3 times that of visible light irradiation. This work provides a simple and effective strategy for the construction of reversible catalysts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yufen Han
- Faculty of Materials Science and Chemistry, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, People's Republic of China
| | - Jiaqian Li
- Faculty of Materials Science and Chemistry, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, People's Republic of China
| | - Xiaojin Zhang
- Faculty of Materials Science and Chemistry, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, People's Republic of China
| | - Fan Xia
- Faculty of Materials Science and Chemistry, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, People's Republic of China
| | - Yu Dai
- Faculty of Materials Science and Chemistry, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, People's Republic of China
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