October 10, 2023
Keio University
Assistant Professor Tomoya Inoue, Associate Professor Miho Hatanaka, and Professor Atsushi Nakajima of the Faculty of Science and Technology at Keio University have successfully elucidated the duality of reaction activation and passivation that occurs when aluminum nanocluster superatoms generated in the gas phase are doped with boron atoms, in concert with their geometric structures. They revealed that the reactivity is controlled by the position of the boron atom within the superatom's structure.
The development of functional substrates using novel nanostructures is crucial for overcoming energy and environmental problems by further improving the efficiency of chemical and energy conversion processes. Among nanoclusters, which are aggregates of several to several tens of atoms, are nanostructures called nanocluster superatoms that exhibit electronic states similar to those of single atoms. It was known that their reactivity changes significantly when doped with different elements. However, in addition to the difficulty of producing nanocluster superatoms with a uniform number of atoms and composition, there was a challenge: on a substrate surface, the effects of doping with a foreign atom could not be properly discussed due to factors such as deformation of the nanocluster superatoms or changes in their charge state, caused by the surface's properties and structural irregularities.
This research group has established a technique to synthesize large quantities of pure superatoms with perfectly controlled numbers of atoms and composition and to immobilize them on a substrate in a non-destructive and stable manner. Furthermore, by utilizing nanostructures based on composite superatoms, they also elucidated that when a foreign atom is added, its geometric structure works in concert to create a duality of reaction activation and passivation. These results are expected to lead to the creation of functional composite nanostructures that will enable next-generation chemical and energy conversion.
These research findings were published on October 4, 2023 (US time), in the Journal of the American Chemical Society , a journal of the American Chemical Society.
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