Precise control of the growth of thiolate-protected gold nanoclusters is a prerequisite for their applications in catalysis and bioengineering. Here, we bring to bear a new series of thiolate-protected nanoclusters with a unique growth pattern, i.e., Au20(SR)16, Au28(SR)20, Au36(SR)24, Au44(SR)28, and Au52(SR)32. These nanoclusters can be viewed as resulting from the stepwise addition of a comm...

The growth of Fe nanoclusters on the Ge(001) surface has been studied using lowtemperature scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. STM results indicate that Fe nucleates on the Ge(001) surface, forming wellordered nanoclusters of uniform size. Depending on the preparation conditions, two types of nanoclusters were observed having either four or six...

Metal nanoclusters exhibit unusual optical and catalytic properties due to their unique electronic structures. Here, surfactant-free silver nanoclusters supported on carbon nanodots were synthesized through a facile and green approach with only glucose and AgNO3 as precursors and without any other protecting ligands and reducing agents. The hybrid nanoclusters exhibited enhanced blue fluorescen...

Monothiolate protected gold nanoclusters with near IR luminescence underwent a five-toten fold enhancement of quantum efficiency by heating in the presence of excess thiols. Two monothiolate nanoclusters, mercaptosuccinic acid and tiopronin, were shown to benefit from this procedure. Emission maximum around 700-900 nm is favorable for bioimaging applications due to reduction of background signa...

Diabetes mellitus is characterized by hyperglycemia and excessive production of intermediary metabolites including methylglyoxal (MGO), a reactive carbonyl species that can lead to cell injuries. Interacting with proteins, lipids, and DNA, excessive MGO can cause dysfunction of various tissues, especially the vascular walls where diabetic complications often take place. However, the potential v...

Interfacial properties of 5 nm MgO(001)/7 nm Fe(001)/1.8 nm MgO(001)/t nm Cu-phthalocyanine (CuPc) hybrid multilayers with t = 0, 1, 7, and 10 were investigated by using x-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS). Rather sharp interfacial properties were observed in the CuPc films grown on an epitaxial MgO/Fe/MgO(001) trilayer than a MgO/Fe(001) bilayer. This work suggests a new way to improve devi...

dehydration method by modifies the commercial MgO. The prepared MgO had been investigated as a heterogeneous base catalyst for transesterification process for biodiesel production using palm oil. TGA, FT-IR and XRD results obtained from this study lie each other and proved in the formation of nano MgO from decomposition of Mg(OH) 2. This study proved that the prepared nano MgO was a better base...

The perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) of Fe1-x Co x thin films on MgO(001) was investigated via first-principles density-functional calculations. Four different configurations were considered based on their ground states: Fe/MgO, Fe12Co4/MgO, Fe10Co6/MgO, and Fe8Co8/MgO. As the Co composition increases, the amplitude of PMA increases first from Fe/MgO to Fe12Co4/MgO, and then decreases in...

Subnanometer-sized copper nanoclusters were prepared by a one-pot procedure based on wet chemical reduction. The structural characteristics of the 2-mercapto-5-n-propylpyrimidine-protected nanoclusters, Cu(n) (n ≤ 8), were determined by mass spectrometry. The Cu nanoclusters displayed apparent luminescence, with dual emissions at 425 and 593 nm, with quantum yields of 3.5 and 0.9%, respectively...

A wet chemical preparation of MgO with the (111) facet as the primary surface has recently been reported and with alternating layers of oxygen anions and magnesium cations, this material shows unique chemical and physical properties. The potential to utilize the MgO(111) surface for the immobilization of metal particles is intriguing because the surface itself offers a very different environmen...