A reasonable approach for the generation of hollow icosahedral kernels in metal nanoclusters
Xi Kang, Xiao Wei, Xiaokang Liu, Sicong Wang, Tao Yao, Shuxin Wang, Manzhou Zhu, Shuxin Wang, Manzhou Zhu
Abstract
Abstract Although the hollow icosahedral M 12 kernel has been extensively observed in metal nanoclusters, its origin remains a mystery. Here we report a reasonable avenue for the generation of the hollow icosahedron: the kernel collapse from several small nano-building blocks to an integrated hollow icosahedron. On the basis of the Au alloying processes from Ag 28 Cu 12 (SR) 24 to the template-maintained Au x Ag 28-x Cu 12 (SR) 24 and then to the template-transformed Au 12 Cu y Ag 32-y (SR) 30 , the kernel evolution/collapse from “tetrahedral Ag 4 + 4 ∗ Ag 3 ” to “tetrahedral Au 4 + 4 ∗ M 3 (M = Au/Ag)” and then to “hollow icosahedral Au 12 ” is mapped out. Significantly, the “kernel collapse” from small-sized nano-building blocks to large-sized nanostructures not only unveils the formation of hollow icosahedral M 12 in this work, but also might be a very common approach in constructing metallic kernels of nanoclusters and nanoparticles (not limited to the M 12 structure).