Abstract
Metal nanoclusters (NCs) are one of the leading targets in research of nanoscale materials, and elucidation of their properties (science) and development of control techniques (technology) have been continuously studied for the past 60 years or so. I have been continuously studying metal NCs since 1995 while changing my own interests, and thereby research topics, according to development of the field and the global situation. Specifically, I started my research on gas-phase metal NCs, and then investigated systematic isolation of glutathionate-protected gold NCs. Thereafter, I worked on development of flexible and precise techniques for controlling ligand-protected metal NCs and creation of highly functional energy and environmental catalysts using ligand-protected metal NCs. This personal account summarizes my previous studies on metal NCs. Through this personal history, I would like to describe my motivation for each previous subject, what type of research I want to perform for each subject in the future, and how I consider the outlook of the field.
Highlights
Yuichi Negishi is a Professor in the Department of Applied Chemistry atTokyo University of Science
To develop the ultimate nanotechnology for metal–molecule complex systems and thereby gain a better understanding of the correlation between the chemical composition, structure, and physical properties for ligand-protected metal NCs, it was necessary to develop new precise synthesis methods for (1) Au NCs with a large number of constituent atoms, (2) alloy NCs composed of several metal elements, (3) metal NCs composed of other elements, and (4) metal NCs protected by other ligands
Since 2008, we have been working in parallel to develop the following six techniques: (1) isolation of Au NCs with a large number of constituent atoms[108,109] (Section 4.2 and Fig. 4(a)), (2) isolation of alloy NCs110–117 (Section 4.3 and Fig. 4(b)), (3) isolation of metal NCs consisting of Ag or Pt118–121 (Section 4.4 and Fig. 4(c)), (4) isolation of metal NCs protected by other ligands[122,123,124,125,126,127,128] (Section 4.5 and Fig. 4(d)), (5) connection of metal NCs129–131 (Section 4.6 and Fig. 4(e)), and (6) high-resolution separation of ligand-protected metal NCs by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)[53,55,61,108,109,110,132,133,134,135,136,137,138] (Section 4.6 and Fig. 4(f))
Summary
Since 2000, many countries have adopted nanotechnology as a national policy,[6] which has led to dramatic advancement in the technology and knowledge related to these materials, as well as a dramatic increase in the number of researchers involved in research of nanoscale materials Through this knowledge, it is possible to synthesize metal NCs consisting of certain metal elements with atomic precision.[7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27] In addition, through these studies, it has been experimentally demonstrated that in the nanoscale region, novel electronic/ geometric structures and physicochemical properties different from those of ordinary metals emerge. I will explain what has led me to perform each type of research, what type of research I would like to perform in the future, and what I consider to be the future prospects in the field
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