Fabricating Dual-Atom Iron Catalysts for Efficient Oxygen Evolution Reaction: A Heteroatom Modulator Approach

Understanding the thermal aggregation behavior of metal atoms is important for the synthesis of supported metal clusters. Here, derived from a metal–organic framework encapsulating a trinuclear Fe^III₂Fe^II complex (denoted as Fe₃) within the channels, a well-defined nitrogen-doped carbon layer is fabricated as an ideal support for stabilizing the generated iron nanoclusters. Atomic replacement of Fe^II by other metal(II) ions (e.g., Zn^II/Co^II) via synthesizing isostructural trinuclear-complex precursors (Fe₂Zn/Fe₂Co), namely the “heteroatom modulator approach”, is inhibiting the aggregation of Fe atoms toward nanoclusters with formation of a stable iron dimer in an optimal metal–nitrogen moiety, clearly identified by direct transmission electron microscopy and X-ray absorption fine structure analysis. The supported iron dimer, serving as cooperative metal–metal site, acts as efficient oxygen evolution catalyst. Our findings offer an atomic insight to guide the future design of ultrasmall metal clusters bearing outstanding catalytic capabilities.     

基于金纳米簇探针的荧光猝灭检测铁离子

以D-色氨酸为保护剂和还原剂, 采用水热法快速制备了具有强荧光的金纳米簇(D-Trp@AuNCs); 以其作为荧光探针, 建立了基于荧光猝灭的选择性高灵敏检测Fe³⁺的传感方法. 利用透射电子显微镜(TEM)、 紫外-可见光谱(UV-Vis)和红外光谱(IR)等手段对制备的金纳米簇进行了表征, 并利用荧光光谱研究了D-Trp@AuNCs的荧光性能. 结果表明, D-Trp@AuNCs具有较好的生物相容性, 其最大激发波长为370 nm, 最大发射波长为460 nm; 向金纳米簇溶液中加入Fe³⁺后, D-Trp@AuNCs的荧光发生明显猝灭, 其猝灭程度与Fe³⁺的浓度在0.3~500.0 μmol/L范围内呈现良好的线性关系, 检出限为33.1 nmol/L(S/N=3). 将该荧光探针用于实际水样中Fe³⁺的检测, 回收率为86.6%~106.5%.     

Highly dispersed palladium nanoclusters incorporated in amino‐functionalized silica spheres for the selective hydrogenation of succinic acid to γ‐butyrolactone

Highly dispersed palladium nanoclusters incorporated on amino‐functionalized silica sphere surfaces (Pd/SiO₂‐NH₂) were fabricated by a simple one‐pot synthesis utilizing 3‐(2‐aminoethylamino)propyltrimethoxysilane (AAPTS) as coordinating agent. Uniform palladium nanoclusters with an average size of 1.1 nm can be obtained during the co‐condensation of tetraethyl orthosilicate and AAPTS owing to the strong interaction between palladium species and amino groups in AAPTS. The palladium particle size can be controlled by addition of AAPTS and plays a significant role in the catalytic performance. The Pd/SiO₂‐NH₂ catalyst exhibits high catalytic activity for succinic acid hydrogenation with 100% conversion and 94% selectivity towards γ‐butyrolactone using 1,4‐dioxane as solvent at 240°C and 60 bar for 4 h. Moreover, the Pd/SiO₂‐NH₂ catalyst is robust and readily reusable without loss of its catalytic activity. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Ratiometric Detection of microRNA Using Hybridization Chain Reaction and Fluorogenic Silver Nanoclusters

miRNA (miR)-155 is a potential biomarker for breast cancers. We aimed at developing a nanosensor for miR-155 detection by integrating hybridization chain reaction (HCR) and silver nanoclusters (AgNCs). HCR serves as an enzyme-free and isothermal amplification method, whereas AgNCs provide a built-in fluorogenic detection probe that could simplify the downstream analysis. The two components were integrated by adding a nucleation sequence of AgNCs to the hairpin of HCR. The working principle was based on the influence of microenvironment towards the hosted AgNCs, whereby unfolding of hairpin upon HCR has manipulated the distance between the hosted AgNCs and cytosine-rich toehold region of hairpin. As such, the dominant emission of AgNCs changed from red to yellow in the absence and presence of miR-155, enabling a ratiometric measurement of miR with high sensitivity. The limit of detection (LOD) of our HCR-AgNCs nanosensor is 1.13 fM in buffered solution. We have also tested the assay in diluted serum samples, with comparable LOD of 1.58 fM obtained. This shows the great promise of our HCR-AgNCs nanosensor for clinical application.     

Controlled Self-Assembly of Metallacycle-Bridged Gold Nanoparticles for Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering

In this work, well-defined two-dimensional metallacycles have been successfully employed for the well-controlled self-assembly of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) into discrete clusters such as dimers, trimers, tetramers, pentamers and even hexamers at the water–oil interface for the first time. Furthermore, the modular construction of metallacycle molecules allows precise control of spacing between the gold nanoparticles. Interestingly, it was found that interparticle spacing below 5 nm created by molecular metallacycles in the resultant discrete gold nanoparticle clusters led to a strong plasmon coupling, thus inducing great field enhancement inside the gap between the NPs. More importantly, different discrete clusters with precise interparticle spacing provide a well-defined system for studying the hot-spot phenomenon in surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS); this revealed that the SERS effects were closely related to the interparticle spacing.     

X-ray and UV photoelectron spectroscopy of Ag nanoclusters

The main purpose of the present work is to analyze a series of Ag nanoparticles (NPs) with different size or ligand functionalization by using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and to identify the differences in the band-shape and energy peak position of photoemission spectra due to the particle dimension. A transmission electron microscopy characterization was performed, to verify the consistency of the results. Three types of samples were prepared starting from AgNO₃ water solution and adding different capping agents. In the first two cases, the formation of NPs was promoted by the reduction of silver ions Ag⁺¹ to metallic Ag⁰ through the addition of sodium borohydride, whereas in the last case, it was triggered by the exposure to UV light. Depending on the size of the NPs, a different physical behavior can be recognized. NPs with diameter of about 5 nm are characterized by the phenomenon of localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR). The other type of samples having a diameter of about 1.5 nm presents discrete energy levels instead of electronic bands, and in this case, a typical fluorescence phenomenon can be observed. In the latter case, we can refer to such systems as nanoclusters. The XPS analyses were focused on the Ag 3D spectra looking for the possible shifts of the Ag doublet as a function of the particles size. The ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy with He II source was used for the investigation of possible changes in the valence band.     

Predicting absorption spectra of silver-ligand complexes

The detailed structures of most of ligand-stabilized metal nanoclusters (NCs) remain unknown due to the absence of crystal structure data for them. In such a situation, quantum-chemical modeling is of particular interest. We compared the performance of different theoretical methods of geometry optimization and absorption spectra calculation for silver-thiolate complexes. We showed that the absorption spectra calculated with the ADC(2) method were consistent with the spectra obtained with CC2 method. Three DFT functionals (B3LYP, CAM-B3LYP, and M06-2X) failed to reproduce the CC2 absorption spectra of the silver-thiolate complexes.     

A theoretical study on the pure and doped ZnO nanoclusters as effective nanobiosensors for 5-fluorouracil anticancer drug adsorption

The electronic sensitivity and effectiveness of the pristine, Fe,- Mg-, Al- and Ga-doped ZnO nanoclusters interacted with 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) anticancer drug are theoretically investigated in the gas phase using the B3LYP/wB97XD density functional theory calculations with LANL2DZ basis set. It is concluded that 5-FU adsorption on the doped nanoclusters has relatively higher adsorption energy as compared with the pristine zinc oxide. A number of thermodynamic parameters, such as band gap energy (E_g), adsorption energy (E_ad), molecular electrostatic potential, global hardness (η) and density of electronic states, are attained and compared. Also, calculated geometrical parameters and electronic properties for the studied systems indicate that Mg- and Ga-doped Zn₁₂O₁₂ present higher sensitivity to 5-FU compared with the pristine nanocluster. Theoretical results reveal that adsorption of 5-FU on the doped nanoclusters is influenced by the electronic conductance of the nanocluster. Therefore, Mg- and Ga-doped ZnO can be considered as promising nanobiosensors for detection of 5-FU in medicine.     

Bonding and Acidity of the Formal Hydride in the Prototypical Au9(PPh3)8H2+ Nanocluster

The role of hydrogen atoms as surface ligands on metal nanoclusters is of profound importance but remains difficult to directly study. While hydrogen atoms often appear to be incorporated formally as hydrides, evidence suggests that they donate electrons to the cluster's delocalized superatomic orbitals and may consequently behave as acidic protons that play key roles in synthetic or catalytic mechanisms. Here we directly test this assertion for the prototypical Au₉(PPh₃)₈H²⁺ nanocluster, formed by addition of a hydride to the well-characterized Au₉(PPh₃)₈³⁺. Using gas-phase infrared spectroscopy, we were able to unambiguously isolate Au₉(PPh₃)₈H²⁺ and Au₉(PPh₃)₈D²⁺, revealing an Au−H stretching mode at 1528 cm⁻¹ that shifts to 1038 cm⁻¹ upon deuteration. This shift is greater than the maximum expected for a typical harmonic potential, suggesting a potential governing cluster-H bonding that has some square-well character consistent with the hydrogen nucleus behaving as a metal atom in the cluster core. Complexing this cluster with very weak bases reveals a redshift of 37 cm⁻¹ in the Au−H vibration, consistent with those typically seen for moderately acidic groups in gas phase molecules and providing an estimate of the acidity of Au₉(PPh₃)₈H²⁺, at least with regard to its surface reactivity.     

Perfect Core-Shell Octahedral B@B38+, Be@B38, and Zn@B38 with an Octa-Coordinate Center as Superatoms Following the Octet Rule

Planar, tubular, cage-like, and bilayer boron clusters B_n^+/0/− (n=3∼48) have been observed in joint experimental and theoretical investigations in the past two decades. Based on extensive global searches augmented with first-principles theory calculations, we predict herein the smallest perfect core-shell octahedral borospherene O_h B@B₃₈⁺ ( 1 ) and its endohedral metallo-borospherene analogs O_h Be@B₃₈ ( 2 ), and O_h Zn@B₃₈ ( 3 ) which, with an octa-coordinate B, Be or Zn atom located exactly at the center, turn out to be the well-defined global minima of the systems highly stable both thermodynamically and dynamically. B@B₃₈⁺ ( 1 ) represents the first boron-containing molecule reported to date which contains an octa-coordinate B center covalently coordinated by eight face-capping boron atoms at the corners of a perfect cube in the first coordination sphere. Detailed natural bonding orbital (NBO) and adaptive natural density partitioning (AdNDP) bonding analyses indicate that these high-symmetry core-shell complexes X@B₃₈^+/0/− (X=B, Be, Zn) as super-noble gas atoms follow the octet rule in coordination bonding patterns (1S²1P⁶), with one delocalized 9c-2e S-type coordination bond and three delocalized 39c-2e P-type coordination bonds formed between the octa-coordinate X center and its octahedral O_h B₃₈ ligand to effectively stabilize the systems. Their IR, Raman, and UV-Vis spectra are computationally simulated to facilitate their spectroscopic characterizations.