Plasmonic twinned silver nanoparticles with molecular precision.
Determining the structures of nanoparticles at atomic resolution is vital to understand their structure-property correlations. Large metal nanoparticles with core diameter beyond 2 nm have, to date, eluded characterization by single-crystal X-ray analysis. Here we report the chemical syntheses and structures of two giant thiolated Ag nanoparticles containing 136 and 374 Ag atoms (that is, up to 3 nm core diameter). As the largest thiolated metal nanoparticles crystallographically determined so far, these Ag nanoparticles enter the truly metallic regime with the emergence of surface plasmon resonance. As miniatures of fivefold twinned nanostructures, these structures demonstrate a subtle distortion within fivefold twinned nanostructures of face-centred cubic metals. The Ag nanoparticles reported in this work serve as excellent models to understand the detailed structure distortion within twinned metal nanostructures and also how silver nanoparticles can span from the molecular to the metallic regime.
Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials, State Key Laboratory for Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, and Engineering Research Center for Nano-Preparation Technology of Fujian Province, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, 422 Siming South Road, Xiamen 361005, China.
Huayan
H
Yang
Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials, State Key Laboratory for Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, and Engineering Research Center for Nano-Preparation Technology of Fujian Province, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, 422 Siming South Road, Xiamen 361005, China.
Yu
Y
Wang
Nanoscience Center, Department of Chemistry, University of Jyväskylä, Box 35, 40014 Jyväskylä, Finland.
Xi
X
Chen
Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials, State Key Laboratory for Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, and Engineering Research Center for Nano-Preparation Technology of Fujian Province, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, 422 Siming South Road, Xiamen 361005, China.
Xiaojing
X
Zhao
Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China.
Lin
L
Gu
Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials, State Key Laboratory for Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, and Engineering Research Center for Nano-Preparation Technology of Fujian Province, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, 422 Siming South Road, Xiamen 361005, China.
Huaqi
H
Huang
Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials, State Key Laboratory for Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, and Engineering Research Center for Nano-Preparation Technology of Fujian Province, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, 422 Siming South Road, Xiamen 361005, China.
Juanzhu
J
Yan
Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials, State Key Laboratory for Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, and Engineering Research Center for Nano-Preparation Technology of Fujian Province, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, 422 Siming South Road, Xiamen 361005, China.
Chaofa
C
Xu
State Key Laboratory of Molecular Reaction Dynamics, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian 116023, China.
Gang
G
Li
Department of Civil Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian 361005, China.
Junchao
J
Wu
Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization, Australian Centre for Neutron Scattering, New Illawarra Road, Lucas Heights, New South Wales 2234, Australia.
Alison J
AJ
Edwards
Heinrich-Heine Universität Düsseldorf, Anorganische Chemie und Strukturchemie, Universitätsstrasse 1, Gebäude 26.42.01.21, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany.
Birger
B
Dittrich
Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials, State Key Laboratory for Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, and Engineering Research Center for Nano-Preparation Technology of Fujian Province, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, 422 Siming South Road, Xiamen 361005, China.|State Key Laboratory of Molecular Reaction Dynamics, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian 116023, China.
Zichao
Z
Tang
Department of Civil Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian 361005, China.
Dongdong
D
Wang
Nanoscience Center, Department of Chemistry, University of Jyväskylä, Box 35, 40014 Jyväskylä, Finland.
Lauri
L
Lehtovaara
Nanoscience Center, Department of Chemistry, University of Jyväskylä, Box 35, 40014 Jyväskylä, Finland.|Nanoscience Center, Department of Physics, University of Jyväskylä, Box 35, 40014 Jyväskylä, Finland.
Hannu
H
Häkkinen
Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials, State Key Laboratory for Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, and Engineering Research Center for Nano-Preparation Technology of Fujian Province, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, 422 Siming South Road, Xiamen 361005, China.
Nanfeng
N
Zheng