Research Projects

The study focuses on the diversification of materials' functionalities, with a particular emphasis on the chemistry of clusters. Atom-precise metal clusters, which have a few definite numbers of metal clusters but are stabilized by suitable ligands, have gained attention in recent years. Recently, molecular nanoparticles of CeO₂ have cerium oxide structures in the core encapsulated by ligands and solvents, leading to the development of atom-precise metal oxide nanoclusters (AMON), a new class of materials with particle sizes less than 2 nm. Ruthenium carbonyl was anchored onto an r-GO and identified Ru₃O₂ AMON. The activity of these catalysts is better than Ru single-atom catalysts and Ru nanoparticle-based catalysts. Ligands can control the growth and size distribution of particles after super-saturation in nucleation, which can be achieved by manipulating reaction conditions. Oldwald ripening can be exploited to narrow the size distribution at the expense of smaller-sized particles. Digestive ripening, first proposed for gold nanoparticles, has been applied to the formation of nanoporous metals and atomically precise gold nanoclusters. However, reports of digestive ripening in metal-oxide systems are scarce, with only reports of anisotropic La₂O₃ nanoparticles, CuO nanoparticles, and ZnO. The current proposal aims to synthesize AMON by chemical leaching of pre-prepared oxide nanoparticles using ligands with a functional group, mineral acids, and solvents. This approach aims to develop a generic route for leaching metal-oxide nanomaterials, leading to an understanding of the formation of AMON and the study of its physical and catalytic properties.