New Advances in Atomically Precise Silver and Copper Nanoclusters

Atomically precise metal nanoclusters (NCs), a new class of materials are composed of tens to hundreds of metal atoms in the core and possess unique structures, high stability, and attractive properties. Built on the significant success of Au NCs, Ag and Cu NCs have recently received increasing attention. Synthesis and structural elucidation of these NCs are challenging because the zero-valent oxidation states of Ag and Cu are very reactive and prone to oxidization. 1 We have designed a new strategy to synthesize Ag and Cu NCs and then correlated their structure-property relationship. Here, we will discuss the following: (a) A new Ag-S NC [Ag 50 S 13 (S t Bu) 20 ][CF 3 COO] 4 with its unique hcp Ag 14 kernel and Ag 36 Keplerian shell-based structural architecture and its photoresponsivity; 2 (b) Ag 12 -based two-dimensional cluster-assembled materials and their optoelectronic properties; 3 (c) Presence of unique structural geometry in Cu 18 and Cu 29 -based NCs. 4

Speaker bio: Sukhendu Mandal, Ph.D., is from the School of Chemistry at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Thiruvananthapuram.

References:
(1) Yang, J.; Jin, R. ACS Mater. Lett. 2019, 1, 482-489.
(2) Biswas, S.; Das, A. K.; Reber, A. C.; Biswas, S.; Bhandary, S.; Kamble, V. B.; Khanna. S. N.; Mandal,
S. Nano Lett. 2022, 22, 3721-3727.
(3) Das, A. K.; Biswas, S.; Kayal, A.; Reber, A. C.; Bhandary, S.; Chopra, D.; Mitra, J.; Khanna, S. N.;
Mandal, S. Nano Lett. 2023, 23, 8923-8931.
(4) Das, A. K.; Biswas, S.; Wani, V. S.; Nair, A. S.; Pathak, B.; Mandal, S. Chem. Sci. 2022, 13, 7616-
7625.