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Type: 
Journal
Description: 
Gold nanoparticles (NPs) exhibit optical, catalytic, and physical properties that are scientifically fascinating and essential for many applications. However, the challenge is to synthesize and disperse ultra-small and highly stable NPs. We demonstrate here that isolated and ultra-small (∼1 nm) Au NPs can be synthesized by photo-reduction of HAuCl4 inside thiol-functionalized MOFs, including MIL-101 (Cr) and a novel class of MOFs, MOF-808–SH. A combination of physical, imaging, and spectroscopic measurements and ab initio calculations confirms that the Au NPs are dispersed inside the bulk of the MOFs and demonstrate that the thiol group is critical to stabilize the Au NPs deeply inside individual pores which overcomes the major issue of external nucleation on the outer surfaces. The thiol-functionalized MOFs thus fulfill a dual purpose: they foster the nucleation of the Au NPs and also provide confinement and …
Publisher: 
Royal Society of Chemistry
Publication date: 
1 Jan 2019
Authors: 

Jérémy Cure, Eric Mattson, Kévin Cocq, Hala Assi, Stephanie Jensen, Kui Tan, Massimo Catalano, Shuai Yuan, Hao Wang, Liang Feng, Peng Zhang, Sunah Kwon, Jean-François Veyan, Yasiel Cabrera, Guoyu Zhang, Jing Li, Moon Kim, Hong-Cai Zhou, Yves J Chabal, Timo Thonhauser

Biblio References: 
Volume: 7 Issue: 29 Pages: 17536-17546
Origin: 
Journal of Materials Chemistry A