Bis-Schiff base linkage-triggered highly bright luminescence of gold nanoclusters in aqueous solution at the single-cluster level

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 13; no. 1; p. 3381
• Main Authors: Deng, Haohua, Huang, Kaiyuan, Xiu, Lingfang, Sun, Weiming, Yao, Qiaofeng, Fang, Xiangyu, Huang, Xin, Noreldeen, Hamada A. A., Peng, Huaping, Xie, Jianping, Chen, Wei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 13.06.2022; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 119/118; 140/131; 140/58; 639/301/357/341; 639/301/357/354; 639/301/357/551; 639/638/298; Aqueous solutions; Core-shell structure; Crosslinking; Glutathione; Gold; Humanities and Social Sciences; Imines; Linkages; Luminescence; Metal clusters; multidisciplinary; Nanoclusters; Nanomaterials; Nanotechnology; Photoluminescence; Photons; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Water chemistry
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-30760-3

Metal nanoclusters (NCs) have been developed as a new class of luminescent nanomaterials with potential applications in various fields. However, for most of the metal NCs reported so far, the relatively low photoluminescence quantum yield (QY) in aqueous solution hinders their applications. Here, we describe the utilization of bis-Schiff base linkages to restrict intramolecular motion of surface motifs at the single-cluster level. Based on Au 22 (SG) 18 (SG: glutathione) NCs, an intracluster cross-linking system was constructed with 2,6-pyridinedicarboxaldehyde (PDA), and water-soluble gold NCs with luminescence QY up to 48% were obtained. The proposed approach for achieving high emission efficiency can be extended to other luminescent gold NCs with core-shell structure. Our results also show that the content of surface-bound Au(I)-SG complexes has a significant impact on the PDA-induced luminescence enhancement, and a high ratio of Au(I)-SG will be beneficial to increasing the photoluminescence intensity of gold NCs. Boosting the luminescence of atomically precise metal clusters is a main goal in view of applications. Here, the authors describe a strategy to increase the photoluminescence quantum yield of water-soluble gold clusters at the single-cluster level via formation of bis-Schiff base linkages, providing detailed insight into the mechanism.