Small size yet big action: a simple sulfate anion templated a discrete 78-nuclearity silver sulfur nanocluster with a multishell structure

Abstract

A discrete 78-nucleus silver–sulfur nanocluster with a sulfate-centered multishell structure was isolated and characterized. Its crystal structure revealed 18 and 60 Ag atoms in the inner and outer shell, respectively. The inner shell of 18-nuclearity Ag atoms is a very rare convex polyhedron featuring an elongated triangular orthobicupola. The incorporation of a sulfate anion and multishell arrangement in the nanocluster led to a dramatic decrease in the band gap (E_g = 1.40 eV). Our study showed that simple anions can also induce the formation of high-nuclearity silver clusters with excellent optical properties.