Nanocluster

Nanoclusters are atomically precise, crystalline materials most often existing on the 0-2 nanometer scale.[citation needed] They are often considered[by whom?] kinetically stable intermediates that form during the synthesis of comparatively larger materials such as semiconductor and metallic nanocrystals. The majority of research conducted to study nanoclusters has focused on characterizing their crystal structures and understanding their role in the nucleation and growth mechanisms of larger materials.

Materials can be categorized into three different regimes, namely bulk, nanoparticles and nanoclusters.[according to whom?] Bulk metals are electrical conductors and good optical reflectors and metal nanoparticles display intense colors due to surface plasmon resonance.[1] However, when the size of metal nanoclusters is further reduced to form a nanocluster, the band structure becomes discontinuous and breaks down into discrete energy levels, somewhat similar to the energy levels of molecules.[2][1][3][4][5] This gives nanoclusters similar qualities as a singular molecule[6] and does not exhibit plasmonic behavior; nanoclusters are known as the bridging link between atoms and nanoparticles.[7][2][1][3][4][5][8][9][10][11][12] Nanoclusters may also be referred to as molecular nanoparticles.[13]

  1. ^ a b c Zheng, J; Nicovich, P. R; Dickson, R. M. (2007). "Highly Fluorescent Noble Metal Quantum Dots". Annual Review of Physical Chemistry. C 58: 409–431. Bibcode:2007ARPC...58..409Z. doi:10.1146/annurev.physchem.58.032806.104546. PMC 2735021. PMID 17105412.
  2. ^ a b Dıez, I; Ras. R. H. (2011). "Fluorescent silver nanoclusters". Nanoscale. 3 (5): 1963–70. Bibcode:2011Nanos...3.1963D. doi:10.1039/c1nr00006c. PMID 21409225.
  3. ^ a b Wilcoxon, J. P; Abrams, B. L. (2006). "Synthesis, Structure and Properties of Metal Nanoclusters". Chemical Society Reviews. 35 (11): 1162–1194. doi:10.1039/b517312b. PMID 17057844.
  4. ^ a b Shang, L; Dong, S; Nienhaus, G. U. (2011). "Ultra-Small Fluorescent Metal Nanoclusters: Synthesis and Biological Applications". Nano Today. 6 (4): 401–418. doi:10.1016/j.nantod.2011.06.004.
  5. ^ a b Ashenfelter, B. A.; Desireddy, A; Yau, S. H; Goodson T; Bigioni, T. P (2015). "Fluorescence from Molecular Silver Nanoparticles". Journal of Physical Chemistry. C 119 (35): 20728–20734. doi:10.1021/acs.jpcc.5b05735.
  6. ^ Bhattarai, B; Zaker, Y; Atnagulov A; Yoon, B; Landman, U; Bigioni T. P. (2018). "Chemistry and Structure of Silver Molecular Nanoparticles". Accounts of Chemical Research. 51 (12): 3104–3113. doi:10.1021/acs.accounts.8b00445. PMID 30462479. S2CID 53711566.
  7. ^ Bhattarai, B; Zaker, Y; Atnagulov A; Yoon, B; Landman, U; Bigioni T. P. (2018). "Chemistry and Structure of Silver Molecular Nanoparticles". Accounts of Chemical Research. 51 (12): 3104–3113. doi:10.1021/acs.accounts.8b00445. PMID 30462479. S2CID 53711566.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference e was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Chakraborty, I; Govindarajan, A; Erusappan, J; Ghosh, A; Pradeep, T; Yoon, B; Whetten, R. L.; Landman, U. (2012). "The Superstable 25 kDa Monolayer Protected Silver Nanoparticle: Measurements and Interpretation as an Icosahedral Ag152(SCH2CH2Ph)60 Cluster". Nano Letters. 12 (11): 5861–5866. Bibcode:2012NanoL..12.5861C. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.720.7249. doi:10.1021/nl303220x. PMID 23094944.
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference l4 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Xu, H.; Suslick, K. S. (2010). "Sonochemical Synthesis of Highly Fluorescent Silver Nanoclusters". ACS Nano. 4 (6): 3209–3214. doi:10.1021/nn100987k. PMID 20507161.
  12. ^ Gonzáles, B. S.; Blanco, M. C.; López-Quintela, A (2012). "Single step electro-chemical synthesis of hydrophilic/hydrophobic Ag5 and Ag6 blue luminescent clusters". Nanoscale. 4 (24): 7632–7635. Bibcode:2012Nanos...4.7632G. doi:10.1039/c2nr31994b. PMID 23064311. S2CID 37245927.
  13. ^ Conn, B. E.; Desireddy, A; Atnagulov, A; Wickramasinghe, S; Bhattarai, B; Yoon, B; Barnett, R. N.; Abdollahian, Y; Kim, Y. W.; Griffith, W. P.; Oliver, S. R.; Landman, U; Bigioni T. P. (2015). "M4Ag44(p-MBA)30 Molecular Nanoparticles". Journal of Physical Chemistry C. 119 (20): 11238–11249. doi:10.1021/jp512237b.