Thermally activated delayed fluorescence Au-Ag-oxo nanoclusters: From photoluminescence to radioluminescence

Peng Yuan*, Hansong Zhang, Yang Zhou, Tengyue He, Sami Malola, Luis Gutiérrez-Arzaluz, Yingwei Li, Guocheng Deng, Chunwei Dong, Renwu Huang, Xin Song, Boon K. Teo, Omar F. Mohammed, Hannu Häkkinen*, Osman M. Bakr*, Nanfeng Zheng*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

7 Scopus citations

Abstract

Thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) materials have numerous applications in energy conversion and luminescent imaging. However, they are typically achieved as metal-organic complexes or pure organic molecules. Herein, we report the largest Au-Ag-oxo nanoclusters to date, Au18Ag26(R1COO)12(R2C≡C)244-O)23-O)2 (Au18Ag26, where R1 = CH3-, Ph-, CHOPh- or CF3Ph-; R2 = Ph- or FPh-). These nanoclusters exhibit exceptional TADF properties, including a small S1-T1 energy gap of 55.5 meV, a high absolute photoluminescence quantum yield of 86.7%, and a microseconds TADF decay time of 1.6 μs at ambient temperature. Meanwhile, Au18Ag26 shows outstanding stability against oxygen quenching and ambient conditions. Atomic level analysis reveals the strong π⋯π and C-H⋯π interactions from the aromatic alkynyl ligands and the enhancement of metal-oxygen-metal interactions by centrally coordinated O2−. Modeling of the electronic structure shows spatially separated highest occupied molecular orbital and lowest unoccupied molecular orbital, which promote charge transfer from the ligand shell, predominantly carboxylate ligands, to O2−-embedded metal core. Furthermore, TADF Au-Ag-oxo nanoclusters exhibit promising radioluminescence properties, which we demonstrate for X-ray imaging. Our work paves the way for the design of TADF materials based on large metal nanoclusters for light-emission and radioluminescence applications.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article numbere475
JournalAggregate
Volume5
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 2024

Keywords

  • Au-Ag-oxo nanoclusters
  • photoluminescence
  • radioluminescence
  • TADF
  • X-ray imaging

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Chemistry (miscellaneous)
  • Materials Science (miscellaneous)
  • Materials Chemistry
  • Molecular Biology

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