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Updated: Mar 14, 2026

Molten-Salt Synthesis of Complex Metal Oxide Nanoparticles
Published on: October 27, 2018
Giant Hollow Heterometallic Polyoxoniobates with Sodalite-Type Lanthanide-Tungsten-Oxide Cages: Discrete Nanoclusters
Lu Jin1, Xin-Xiong Li1, Yan-Jie Qi1
1State Key Laboratory of Photocatalysis on Energy and Environment, College of Chemistry, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, Fujian, 350108, China.
Abstract:
The first series of niobium-tungsten-lanthanide (Nb-W-Ln) heterometallic polyoxometalates {Ln12 W12 O36 (H2 O)24 (Nb6 O19 )12 } (Ln=Y, La, Sm, Eu, Yb) have been obtained, which are comprised of giant cluster-in-cluster-like ({Ln12 W12 }-in-{Nb72 }) structures built from 12 hexaniobate {Nb6 O19 } clusters gathered together by a rare 24-nuclearity sodalite-type heterometal-oxide cage {Ln12 W12 O36 (H2 O)24 }. The Nb-W-Ln clusters present the largest multi-metal polyoxoniobates and a series of rare high-nuclearity 4d-5d-4f multicomponent clusters. Furthermore, the giant Nb-W-Ln clusters may be isolated as discrete inorganic alkali salts and can be used as building blocks to form high-dimensional inorganic-organic hybrid frameworks.
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