The fourth crystallographic closest packing unveiled in the gold nanocluster crystal.
Metal nanoclusters have recently attracted extensive interest not only for fundamental scientific research, but also for practical applications. For fundamental scientific research, it is of major importance to explore the internal structure and crystallographic arrangement. Herein, we synthesize a gold nanocluster whose composition is determined to be Au60S6(SCH2Ph)36by using electrospray ionization mass spectrometry and single crystal X-ray crystallography (SCXC). SCXC also reveals that Au60S6(SCH2Ph)36consists of a fcc-like Au20kernel protected by a pair of giant Au20S3(SCH2Ph)18staple motifs, which contain 6 tetrahedral-coordinate μ4-S atoms not previously reported in the Au-S interface. Importantly, the fourth crystallographic closest-packed pattern, termed 6H left-handed helical (6HLH) arrangement, which results in the distinct loss of solid photoluminescence of amorphous Au60S6(SCH2Ph)36, is found in the crystals of Au60S6(SCH2Ph)36. The solvent-polarity-dependent solution photoluminescence is also demonstrated. Overall, this work provides important insights about the structure, Au-S bonding and solid photoluminescence of gold nanoclusters.
Key Laboratory of Materials Physics, Anhui Key Laboratory of Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology, CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, Institute of Solid State Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei 230031, China.
Zibao
Z
Gan
Key Laboratory of Materials Physics, Anhui Key Laboratory of Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology, CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, Institute of Solid State Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei 230031, China.
Jishi
J
Chen
Key Laboratory of Ion Beam Bioengineering, Institute of Technical Biology and Agriculture Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei 230031, China.
Juan
J
Wang
Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China.
Chengming
C
Wang
Key Laboratory of Materials Physics, Anhui Key Laboratory of Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology, CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, Institute of Solid State Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei 230031, China.
Man-Bo
MB
Li
Key Laboratory of Materials Physics, Anhui Key Laboratory of Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology, CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, Institute of Solid State Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei 230031, China.
Chuanhao
0000-0001-6858-6560
C
Yao
Key Laboratory of Materials Physics, Anhui Key Laboratory of Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology, CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, Institute of Solid State Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei 230031, China.
Shengli
S
Zhuang
Key Laboratory of Ion Beam Bioengineering, Institute of Technical Biology and Agriculture Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei 230031, China.
An
A
Xu
Instrumental Analysis Center, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai 200240, China.
Lingling
L
Li
Key Laboratory of Materials Physics, Anhui Key Laboratory of Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology, CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, Institute of Solid State Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei 230031, China.
Zhikun
Z
Wu