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

由小于100个原子组成的金属团簇由于量子尺寸效应和较大的表面体积比而表现出新的性质。有机分子对金属团簇表面的钝化不仅使其稳定聚集，而且由于界面上的电子转移和团簇结构的畸变，还增加了新的光学、磁性和催化性能。本研究旨在揭示受有机分子保护的金属团簇结构与功能之间的相互关系，为该类纳米材料的制备提供指导原则。为此，我们首先合成了由有机配体（硫醇和磷化氢）和聚合物单层保护的金属簇，同时精确系统地控制了化学成分。然后，研究和讨论了它们的光学性质和化学性质与电子结构和几何结构的关系。

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.