Issue 27, 2020

Towards elucidating structure of ligand-protected nanoclusters

Abstract

Ligand-protected metal nanoclusters (NCs) are organic–inorganic nanostructures, exhibiting high stability at specific “magic size” compositions and tunable properties that make them promising candidates for a wide range of nanotechnology-based applications. Synthesis and characterization of these nanostructures has been achieved with atomic precision, offering great opportunities to study the origin of new physicochemical property emergence at the nanoscale using theory and computation. In this Frontier article, we highlight the recent advances in the field of ligand-protected metal NCs, focusing on stability theories on monometallic and heterometal doped NCs, and NC structure prediction. Furthermore, we discuss current challenges on predicting previously undiscovered NCs and propose future steps to advance the field through applying first principles calculations, machine learning, and data-science-based approaches.

Graphical abstract: Towards elucidating structure of ligand-protected nanoclusters

Article information

Article type
Frontier
Submitted
18 Apr 2020
Accepted
11 Jun 2020
First published
11 Jun 2020

Dalton Trans., 2020,49, 9191-9202

Author version available

Towards elucidating structure of ligand-protected nanoclusters

M. J. Cowan and G. Mpourmpakis, Dalton Trans., 2020, 49, 9191 DOI: 10.1039/D0DT01418D

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