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Updated: Jan 21, 2026

Synthesis of Near-Infrared Emitting Gold Nanoclusters for Biological Applications
Published on: March 22, 2020
Modulation of the surface active site number in Pt1Ag14 nanoclusters by ligand engineering to boost photocatalytic H2
Linlin Yu1, Yonggang Ren1, Yue Han1
1Key Laboratory of Optic-electric Sensing and Analytical Chemistry for Life Science, MOE, Shandong Key Laboratory of Biochemical Analysis, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Qingdao University of Science and Technology, Qingdao 266042, P. R. China. linwen_zhang@qust.edu.cn.
Abstract:
Controlling the number of surface active sites on catalysts at the atomic level remains challenging. Herein, we synthesize two Pt1Ag14 nanoclusters sharing the same Pt1Ag14 framework but exposing different numbers of Ag sites, Pt1Ag14[P(Ph-p-OMe)3]7(SPh)6 (Pt1Ag14-1) and Pt1Ag14[P(Ph-p-OMe)3]6(SCH2CH2Ph)6 (Pt1Ag14-2). Pt1Ag14-2, which exposes two Ag sites owing to terminal phosphine detachment, exhibits a significantly higher H2 evolution rate of 891.6 µmol g-1 h-1 compared with 249.4 µmol g-1 h-1 for Pt1Ag14-1. Mechanistic studies reveal that ligand-induced active-site variation accelerates interfacial charge transfer and enhances H* adsorption on Ag sites.
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