The doping engineering and crystal structure of rod-like Au₈Ag₁₇ nanoclusters

Alloy nanoclusters protected by ligands were widely studied due to the synergistic effect of metal atoms, and they exhibit enhanced properties in different fields, such as bio-imaging and catalysis. Herein, we obtained Au₈Ag₁₇(PPh₃)₁₀Cl₁₀ nanoclusters via one-step simple synthesis. The atomically precise crystal structure was determined by x-ray crystallography. It is found that the rod-like Au₈Ag₁₇ nanoclusters were composed of two Au₄Ag₉ icosahedrons via sharing the same Ag atom. Two Au atoms occupy the center of icosahedrons, and the other six Au atoms are all at the neck sites. Four kinds of Cl-Ag connecting modes were observed in Au₈Ag₁₇ nanoclusters. Moreover, the ultraviolet-visible absorption spectrum shows that the prominent absorption peaks of Au₈Ag₁₇ nanoclusters are at ∼395 and 483 nm. This work provides a feasible strategy to synthesize alloy nanoclusters with precise composition via doping engineering.