Assembly of high-nuclearity Sn₂₆ , Sn₃₄ -oxo clusters: solvent strategies and inorganic Sn incorporation.

ABSTRACT: A series of unprecedented high-nuclearity tin-oxo nanoclusters (up to Sn₃₄ ) with structural diversity have been obtained. The characteristics of the applied solvents had great influence on the assembly of these Sn-O clusters. Pure alcohol environments only gave rise to small clusters of Sn₆ , whilst the introduction of water significantly increased the nuclearity to Sn₂₆ , which greatly exceeds those of the known tin-oxo clusters (?14); the use of aprotic CH₃CN finally produced the largest Sn₃₄ to date. Apart from the nuclearity breakthrough, the obtained tin-oxo clusters also present new structural types that are not found in previous reports, including a layered nanorod-like structure of Sn₂₆ and the cage-dimer structure of Sn₃₄ . The layered Sn₂₆ clusters represent good molecular models for SnO₂ materials. Moreover, an electrode derived from TOC-17 with a {Sn₂₆ } core shows better electrocatalytic CO₂ reduction activity than that from TOC-18 with Sn₃₄ . This work not only provides an efficient methodology for the rational assembly of high-nuclearity Sn-O clusters, but also extends their potential applications in energy conversion.

SUBMITTER: Zhu Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6855196 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature