@article{Zhang2024, 
author = {Yifei Zhang and Xinrui Gu and Fatimah Kehinde Busari and Sami Barkaoui and Zhong-Kang Han and Alfons Baiker and Zhen Zhao and Gao Li},
title = {Size hierarchy of gold clusters in nanogold-catalyzed acetylene hydrochlorination},
year = {2024},
journal = {Nano Research},
volume = {17},
number = {11},
pages = {9594-9600},
keywords = {gold clusters, acetylene hydrochlorination, scaling relationship, size hierarchy, AunSm},
url = {https://www.sciopen.com/article/10.1007/s12274-024-6976-8},
doi = {10.1007/s12274-024-6976-8},
abstract = {Size hierarchy is a distinct feature of nanogold-catalysts as it can strongly affect their performance in various reactions. We developed a simple method to generate AunSm nanoclusters of different sizes by thermal treatment of an Au144(PET)60 (PET: phenylethanethiol) parent cluster. These clusters, deposited on activated carbon, exhibit excellent catalytic performance in the hydrochlorination of acetylene. In-situ ultraviolet laser dissociation high-resolution mass spectrometry of the parent cluster in the presence of acetylene revealed a remarkable cluster size-dependence of acetylene adsorption, which is a crucial step in the hydrochlorination. Systematic density functional theory calculations of the reaction pathways on the differently-sized clusters provide deeper insight into the cluster size dependence of the adsorption energies of the reactants and afforded a scaling relationship between the adsorption energy of acetylene and the co-adsorption energies of the reactants (C2H2 and HCl), which could enable a qualitative prediction of the optimal AunSm cluster for the hydrochlorination of acetylene.}
}