skip to main content


Title: Pressure-Induced Transformations of Three-Component Heterostructural Nanocrystals with CdS–Au 2 S Janus Nanoparticles as Hosts and Small Au Nanoparticles as Satellites
Award ID(s):
1936223
NSF-PAR ID:
10174586
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
ACS Applied Nano Materials
Volume:
2
Issue:
11
ISSN:
2574-0970
Page Range / eLocation ID:
6804 to 6808
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. Research on plasmons of gold nanoparticles has gained broad interest in nanoscience. However, ultrasmall sizes near the metal-to-nonmetal transition regime have not been explored until recently due to major synthetic difficulties. Herein, intriguing electron dynamics in this size regime is observed in atomically precise Au 333 (SR) 79 nanoparticles. Femtosecond transient-absorption spectroscopy reveals an unprecedented relaxation process of 4–5 ps—a fast phonon–phonon relaxation process, together with electron–phonon coupling (∼1 ps) and normal phonon–phonon coupling (>100 ps) processes. Three types of –R capped Au 333 (SR) 79 all exhibit two plasmon-bleaching signals independent of the –R group as well as solvent, indicating plasmon splitting and quantum effect in the ultrasmall core of Au 333 (SR) 79 . This work is expected to stimulate future work on the transition-size regime of nanometals and discovery of behavior of nascent plasmons. 
    more » « less
  2. CO 2 reduction reaction (CO 2 RR) is a promising technique for mitigating global warming and storing renewable energy if it can be obtained with a highly selective, efficient, and durable electrocatalyst. Here, we report CO 2 RR catalyzed by Au nanoparticles (NPs) stabilized by pyridines and pyrimidines (e.g., 2-mercaptopyridine (2Mpy), 4-mercaptopyridine (4Mpy), and 2-mercaptopyrimidine (2Mpym)) on a nanostructured carbon-doped TiO 2 nanowire (NanoCOT) electrode, which has been previously reported by our team for electrocatalytic water oxidation. An online gas chromatography (GC) set-up with improved gaseous product sensitivity with real-time pressure monitoring is used to quantify CO and hydrogen products from the Au NP-modified NanoCOT electrode. High CO selectivity is observed at Au-2Mpy coated NanoCOT electrode. CO 2 reduction products are not observed at bare NanoCOT suggesting CO 2 is reduced at the Au nanoparticle sites of the electrode. Moreover, CH 3 OH is not detected at the Au-Mpy/Mpym NPs during rotating ring disk electrode (RRDE) analysis which implies pyridine attached to the Au NPs has no catalytic effects on CO 2 RR as claimed by others in the literature. A durable complete H-cell using a NanoCOT anode and Au NP-NanoCOT cathode electrodes is assembled for complete water splitting, CO 2 RR, and stability test. 
    more » « less