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Title: Ligand-Enhanced Optical Response of Gold Nanomolecules and Its Fragment Projection Analysis: The Case of Au 30 (SR) 18

Journal Article · · Journal of Physical Chemistry. C

We investigate via first-principles simulations the optical absorption spectra of three different Au30(SR)18 monolayer-protected clusters (MPC): Au30(StBu)18, Au30(SPh)18, and Au30(SPh-pNO2)18. Au30(StBu)18 is known in the literature, and its crystal structure is available. In contrast, Au30(SPh)18 and Au30(SPh-pNO2)18 are two species that have been designed by replacing the tert-butyl organic residues of Au30(StBu)18 with aromatic ones so as to investigate the effects of ligand replacement on the optical response of Au nanomolecules. By analogy to a previously studied Au23(SR)16– anionic species, despite distinct differences in charge and chemical composition, a substantial ligand enhancement of the absorption intensity in the optical region is also obtained for the Au30(SPh-pNO2)18 MPC. Furthermore, the use of conjugated aromatic ligands with properly chosen electron-withdrawing substituents and exhibiting steric hindrance so as to also achieve charge decompression at the surface is therefore demonstrated as a general approach to enhancing the MPC photoabsorption intensity in the optical region. In addition, we here subject the ligand-enhancement phenomenon to a detailed analysis based on the fragment projection of electronic excited states and on induced transition densities, leading to a better understanding of the physical origin of this phenomenon, thus opening avenues to its more precise control and exploitation.

Research Organization:
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC0576RL01830; CHE-1255519; 53999-ND5
OSTI ID:
1343948
Report Number(s):
PNNL-SA-123164
Journal Information:
Journal of Physical Chemistry. C, Vol. 8, Issue 2; ISSN 1932-7447
Publisher:
American Chemical SocietyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 22 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (6)

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Pd doping, conformational, and charge effects on the dichroic response of a monolayer protected Au 38 (SR) 24 nanocluster journal January 2019
Modulating photo-luminescence of Au 2 Cu 6 nanoclusters via ligand-engineering journal January 2017
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