Exploring Novel Functions of Ligand-Protected Metal Clusters with Well-Defined Compositions

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Metal clusters composed of less than hundred atoms exhibit novel properties due to quantum size effect and large surface-to-volume ratio. Passivation of the metal cluster surfaces by organic molecules not only stabilize them from aggregation but also append new optical, magnetic, and catalytic properties due to electron transfer at the interface and distortion of cluster structures. This study aims to reveal the correlation between the structures and functions of the metal clusters protected by organic molecules and provide a guiding principle for fabrication of this class of nano-scale materials. To this end, we first synthesized the metal clusters protected by monolayers of organic ligands (thiols and phosphines) and polymers while controlling the chemical compositions precisely and systematically. Then, their optical and chemical properties were studied and discussed in correlation with the electronic and geometric structures.