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In Situ Synthesis of Gold Nanoparticles without Aggregation in the Interlayer Space of Layered Titanate Transparent Films
Published on: January 17, 2017
Total Structure Determination of Au21(S-Adm)15 and Geometrical/Electronic Structure Evolution of Thiolated Gold
Shuang Chen1, Lin Xiong2, Shuxin Wang1
1Department of Chemistry and Center for Atomic Engineering of Advanced Materials, Anhui University , Hefei, Anhui 230601, People's Republic of China.
Abstract:
The larger size gold nanoparticles typically adopt a face-centered cubic (fcc) atomic packing, while in the ultrasmall nanoclusters the packing styles of Au atoms are diverse, including fcc, hexagonal close packing (hcp), and body-centered cubic (bcc), depending on the ligand protection. The possible conversion between these packing structures is largely unknown. Herein, we report the growth of a new Au21(S-Adm)15 nanocluster (S-Adm = adamantanethiolate) from Au18(SR)14 (SR = cyclohexylthiol), with the total structure determined by X-ray crystallography. It is discovered that the hcp Au9-core in Au18(SR)14 is transformed to a fcc Au10-core in Au21(S-Adm)15. Combining with density functional theory (DFT) calculations, we provide critical information about the growth mechanism (geometrical and electronic structure) and the origin of fcc-structure formation for the thiolate-protected gold nanoclusters.
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