Study Au-S interactions using X-ray Photoemission Spectroscopy (XPS)

1. Study Au-S interactions using X-ray Photoemission Spectroscopy (XPS) Daniel C. Ralph, Cornell University, ECCS - 0335765 The project targets to elucidate the impacts of interfacial bond structures on the physiochemical properties of Au nanoclusters and Au nanoparticles. With tailored energetics and composition/structure at atomic scale, the dithiol-Au nanoclusters are designed for energy technology and biomedical applications. The XPS results reveal the charge transfer between Au and S atoms (charge states). The binding energy (BE) is found shifted to higher energy, confirming our hypothesis and experimental design. As a powerful surface chemical analysis technique, XPS helps to study the chemical nature of the gold core, the binding energy of the Au and S, hence to probe the Au-S bond structures of these clusters and have a better understanding of their properties. The results have been published as listed below. Zhenghua Tang and Gangli Wang* School of Chemistry, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA Work performed at Georgia Tech Nanotechnology Research Center Work published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society 2010, 132 (10), 3367-3374