In a recent comprehensive research report, researchers from the Center for Nanoscience at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland, discuss the unique properties of nano-sized metal clusters that make them suitable for applications in diversity in catalysis, bioimaging, sensing and delivery.
This versatile application is made possible by the formation of nanoclusters that allow the modification of their physical and chemical properties through a close relationship between the mathematical structure and the experimental characteristics.
The review article was selected as the cover article in the June 2023 issue of Nature Review.
Nano-Sized Metal Clusters have a hybrid inorganic-organic structure where the inorganic metal core consists of metal atoms such as gold or silver, or a mixture of fine metals and transition metals.
The main metal is protected by a layer of molecules such as thiols, phosphines, carbenes or alkynyl.
The choice of metallic and inorganic core defines the physical properties of the cluster while the organic ligand shell defines their strength and role in the surrounding system.
For example, water-soluble ligands can be used to bind to biomolecules such as peptides or proteins.
This allows the cluster to be used as an imaging device for proteins or viruses by electron microscopy or by fluorescence spectroscopy, as a precise delivery vehicle for drugs when drugs and peptides are targeted to cells ligand, or as photoreceptors in photodynamic therapy to initiate photochemical reaction to produce reactive oxygen species.
The small size of the clusters, down to a few hundred metal atoms, makes them suitable for high-performance computing.
“Although metal clusters have been studied for decades, only recently has attention been turned to their broad applications ranging from catalysis to biomedicine,” said the author of the paper in – said. Research subject, Dr. María Francisca Matus of the University of Jyväskylä. .
“We are confident that these unique nanosystems will offer great but unexplored application potential, especially in biomedicine where precise atomic measurements are required to design effective solutions, which are combined with safety and advanced nanotherapies.
“We are very pleased to have been invited to write this comprehensive research report in one of the best journals in the field, which also recognizes our long tradition of research and metal nanocluster science in Jyväskylä.
aWe have hopefully this contribution will promote even greater global research efforts in the fast-growing and fast-growing field of nanoparticle research,” concluded Professor Hannu Häkkinen, Senior author of the article.
Source: University of Jyväskylä.
