Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 14, 2025

Stable Aqueous Suspensions of Manganese Ferrite Clusters with Tunable Nanoscale Dimension and Composition
Published on: February 5, 2022
Origin of the structural stability of cage-like Au144 clusters
Shiyao Deng1, Jing Li1, Pu Wang1,2
1Department of Chemistry, Key Laboratory for Green Organic Synthesis and Application of Hunan Province, Key Laboratory of Environmentally Friendly Chemistry and Applications of Ministry of Education, Xiangtan University, Hunan Province 411105, China. ypei2@xtu.edu.cn.
Abstract:
Cage-like metal nanoclusters are rarely found due to the densely packed property of metals. Recently, single crystallography has unraveled for the first time that multi-shell golden cages are formed in large-size thiolate (SR) and alkynl (CCR) protected neutral Au144 nanoclusters, denoted as Au144(SR)60 and Au144(CCR)60. In this study, the origin of the structural stability of golden cage Au144 clusters is studied based on the density functional theory (DFT) energy calculation and energy decomposition analysis (EDA). The formation of hollow cages rather than centre-filled icosahedrons in the Au144 clusters is attributed to the significant Pauli repulsion between the central gold atom and the surrounding metal shell, which leads to the decrease of the averaged formation energy of the clusters. The present study also shows that the Au144 cluster is unique in size. The smaller size clusters Au133 and Au130 and the larger size cluster Au279 both preferred the centre-filled golden icosahedrons, decahedrons or octahedrons.
More Related Videos
08:29Au-Interaction of Slp1 Polymers and Monolayer from Lysinibacillus sphaericus JG-B53 - QCM-D, ICP-MS and AFM as Tools for Biomolecule-metal Studies
Published on: January 19, 2016
06:35Construction and Systematical Symmetric Studies of a Series of Supramolecular Clusters with Binary or Ternary Ammonium Triphenylacetates
Published on: February 15, 2016
Related Concept Videos
Stability of structures
Metallic Solids
All metallic solids exhibit high thermal and electrical conductivity, metallic luster, and malleability....
Crystal Field Theory - Octahedral Complexes
To explain the observed behavior of transition metal complexes (such as colors), a model involving electrostatic interactions between the electrons from the ligands and the electrons in the unhybridized d orbitals of the central metal atom has been developed. This electrostatic model is crystal field theory (CFT). It helps to understand, interpret, and predict the colors, magnetic behavior, and some structures of coordination compounds of transition metals.
CFT focuses on...
Complexation Equilibria: Factors Influencing Stability of Complexes
Valence Bond Theory
Lattice Centering and Coordination Number
Types of Unit Cells
Imagine taking a large number of identical...