Gold Doping of Silver Nanoclusters: A 26‐Fold Enhancement in the Luminescence Quantum Yield

Abstract

A high quantum yield (QY) of photoluminescence (PL) in nanomaterials is necessary for a wide range of applications. Unfortunately, the weak PL and moderate stability of atomically precise silver nanoclusters (NCs) suppress their utility. Herein, we accomplished a ≥26-fold PL QY enhancement of the Ag29 (BDT)12 (TPP)4 cluster (BDT: 1,3-benzenedithiol; TPP: triphenylphosphine) by doping with a discrete number of Au atoms, producing Ag29-x Aux (BDT)12 (TPP)4 , x=1-5. The Au-doped clusters exhibit an enhanced stability and an intense red emission around 660 nm. Single-crystal XRD, mass spectrometry, optical, and NMR spectroscopy shed light on the PL enhancement mechanism and the probable locations of the Au dopants within the cluster.

The tetrahedral structure and luminescence properties of Bi-metallic Pt1Ag28(SR)18(PPh3)4 nanocluster

“…22 In the present study, we discovered that the framework of Pt 1 Ag 28 was largely different from Ag 29 and Au 1 Ag 28 , albeit all of them have the same metal atom number ( i.e. 29).…”

Identification of an Eight-Electron Superatomic Cluster and Its Alloy in One Co-crystal Structure

“…Prominent silver/gold alloy examples being structurally characterized include Au 25-x Ag x [10], Au 38-x Ag x [11], Au 24 Ag 20 [12], Au 24 Ag 46 [13], Au 12 Ag 32 [3b], Au 25 Ag 2 [14], Ag 28 Au [15], Au 12 Ag 13 [16], Au 80 Ag 30 [17], Au 3 Ag 38 [18], Au 7 Ag 8 [19], and Au x Ag y [20] + via a galvanic replacement method [22]. Despite the tremendous progresses in their synthesis and characterization, the mechanistic studies for the formation of Ag alloy NCs are lagged significantly behind.…”

Miscible‐Solvent‐Assisted Two‐Phase Synthesis of Monolayer‐Ligand‐Protected Metal Nanoclusters with Various Sizes

“…Metallic nanostructured materials (MNMs) stabilized by a monolayer of organic ligands are of great interest due to their size‐dependent properties, as reflected by their impact in diverse fields including catalysis, sensing, photochemistry, labeling, energy conversion, and medicine . Depending on the size of MNMs, they can be divided into two categories: nanocrystals (>2 nm) and nanoclusters (NCs, <2 nm) .…”