Constructing perfect cubic Ag–Cu alloyed nanoclusters through selective elimination of phosphine ligands

Abstract

The aspiration of chemists has always been to design and achieve control over nanoparticle morphology at the atomic level. Here, we report a synthesis strategy and crystal structure of a perfect cubic Ag–Cu alloyed nanocluster, [Ag₅₅Cu₈I₁₂(S-C₆H₃^2,4(CH₃)₂)₂₄][(PPh₄)] (Ag₅₅Cu₈I₁₂ for short). The structure of this cluster was determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction (SCXRD) and further validated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), inductively coupled plasma (ICP), Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and ¹H and ³¹P nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). The surface deviation of the cube was measured to be 0.291 Å, making it the flattest known cube to date.