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Nano Research 2024, 17(5): 4631-4638 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-023-6391-6
Research Article | Issue | Published: 24 January 2024

The synthesis of fluorescent nanoclusters based on the etching reaction

Show Author's Information Hongbin Lin1,2,  Yitao Cao3( ),  Qiaofeng Yao4,  Tiankai Chen2,  Huiting Shan1,2,  Jianping Xie1,2( )
Joint School of National University of Singapore and Tianjin University, International Campus of Tianjin University, Fuzhou 350207, China
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117585, Singapore
National and Local Joint Engineering Research Center of MPTES in High Energy and Safety LIBs, Engineering Research Center of MTEES (Ministry of Education), and Key Laboratory of ETESPG (GHEI), South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, China
Tianjin Key Laboratory of Molecular Optoelectronic Sciences, Key Laboratory of Integrated Organic Circuits, Ministry of Education, Department of Chemistry, School of Science, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China
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metal nanoclusters, etching reaction, fluorescent properties, fluorescent conversion
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Lin H, Cao Y, Yao Q, et al. The synthesis of fluorescent nanoclusters based on the etching reaction. Nano Research, 2024, 17(5): 4631-4638. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-023-6391-6
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Abstract Full text Electronic supplementary material About this article

Thiolate-protected atomically precise nanoclusters (NCs) demonstrate a series of unique luminescent characteristics attributed to their various peculiar electronic structures. Therefore, fluorescent NCs present extraordinary practical values in biosensing and bioimaging research fields. Nevertheless, restricted by the types of fluorescent NCs, there are great difficulties in promoting the development of NCs in fluorescent research areas. As a result, it is of significant necessity for researchers to develop new synthetic pathways to produce high-quality fluorescent NCs. According to the analysis about the structural characteristics of fluorescent NCs, some general features like longer motif and higher ligand-to-metal ratio can be found, consistent to some presented regularities in etching reaction. Consequently, in this work, we used Au25(MHA)18 (MHA = 6-mercaptohexanoic acid) as a model nanocluster and utilized the etching reaction to systematically explore etching products and their corresponding luminescent properties. Moreover, we also identified three main reaction processes in the entire etching reaction process, which can generate new metal nanocluster species with various fluorescent properties. Hence, the etching reaction will provide a good platform to produce new luminescent metal NC species.


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Electronic supplementary material
About this article

The synthesis of fluorescent nanoclusters based on the etching reaction

Show Author's information Hongbin Lin1,2, Yitao Cao3( ), Qiaofeng Yao4, Tiankai Chen2, Huiting Shan1,2, Jianping Xie1,2( )
Joint School of National University of Singapore and Tianjin University, International Campus of Tianjin University, Fuzhou 350207, China
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117585, Singapore
National and Local Joint Engineering Research Center of MPTES in High Energy and Safety LIBs, Engineering Research Center of MTEES (Ministry of Education), and Key Laboratory of ETESPG (GHEI), South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, China
Tianjin Key Laboratory of Molecular Optoelectronic Sciences, Key Laboratory of Integrated Organic Circuits, Ministry of Education, Department of Chemistry, School of Science, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China

Abstract

Thiolate-protected atomically precise nanoclusters (NCs) demonstrate a series of unique luminescent characteristics attributed to their various peculiar electronic structures. Therefore, fluorescent NCs present extraordinary practical values in biosensing and bioimaging research fields. Nevertheless, restricted by the types of fluorescent NCs, there are great difficulties in promoting the development of NCs in fluorescent research areas. As a result, it is of significant necessity for researchers to develop new synthetic pathways to produce high-quality fluorescent NCs. According to the analysis about the structural characteristics of fluorescent NCs, some general features like longer motif and higher ligand-to-metal ratio can be found, consistent to some presented regularities in etching reaction. Consequently, in this work, we used Au25(MHA)18 (MHA = 6-mercaptohexanoic acid) as a model nanocluster and utilized the etching reaction to systematically explore etching products and their corresponding luminescent properties. Moreover, we also identified three main reaction processes in the entire etching reaction process, which can generate new metal nanocluster species with various fluorescent properties. Hence, the etching reaction will provide a good platform to produce new luminescent metal NC species.

Keywords: metal nanoclusters, etching reaction, fluorescent properties, fluorescent conversion

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Publication history
Copyright
Acknowledgements

Publication history

Received: 12 October 2023
Revised: 25 November 2023
Accepted: 03 December 2023
Published: 24 January 2024
Issue date: May 2024

Copyright

© Tsinghua University Press 2023

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 22071174) and the Ministry of Eduction, Singapore (Academica Research Grant, Nos. R-279-000-538-114 and R-279-000-580-112).

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