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Updated: Oct 25, 2026

A Simple Method for the Size Controlled Synthesis of Stable Oligomeric Clusters of Gold Nanoparticles under Ambient Conditions
Published on: February 5, 2016
Superoxide Radical Mediated Branch and Crosslink Growth of FCC Kernel in Gold Nanoclusters
Nan Xia1,2, Qing You1, Yongying Ye3
1Key Laboratory of Materials Physics, Anhui Key Laboratory of Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology, Institute of Solid State Physics, HFIPS, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei, People's Republic of China.
Abstract:
FCC (face-centered cubic) structures are found to be highly prevalent in both bulk Au and Au nanoclusters, but achieving precise tailoring or the formation of new stacking modes based on FCC structure has proved challenging. Here, we show a radical-induced structure transformation strategy using persulfates that results in the formation of three new nanoclusters: Au41(SR)25, Au46(SR)26, and Au49(SR)27 (SR: thiolate). The double helices of Au4 assemblies in their kernel structures are observed to adopt branch and cross-linked growth beyond that of linear growth in the previous FCC-kernelled structure. The superoxide radicals converted from persulfates are revealed to oxidize the Au44 precursors with a concurrent Au‒S cleavage, leading to the formation of thermodynamically stable nanoclusters, which are confirmed by theoretical calculations and experimental results. This study unveils new perspectives on the reactivity of atomically precise NCs and highlights a radical-based strategy to design more kernel packing structures.
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