TY  - JOUR
A1  - Schürmann, Robin
A1  - Titov, Evgenii
A1  - Ebel, Kenny
A1  - Kogikoski Junior, Sergio
A1  - Mostafa, Amr
A1  - Saalfrank, Peter
A1  - Milosavljević, Aleksandar R.
A1  - Bald, Ilko
T1  - The electronic structure of the metal-organic interface of isolated ligand coated gold nanoparticles
JF  - Nanoscale Advances
N2  - Light induced electron transfer reactions of molecules on the surface of noble metal nanoparticles (NPs) depend significantly on the electronic properties of the metal-organic interface. Hybridized metal-molecule states and dipoles at the interface alter the work function and facilitate or hinder electron transfer between the NPs and ligand. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements of isolated AuNPs coated with thiolated ligands in a vacuum have been performed as a function of photon energy, and the depth dependent information of the metal-organic interface has been obtained. The role of surface dipoles in the XPS measurements of isolated ligand coated NPs is discussed and the binding energy of the Au 4f states is shifted by around 0.8 eV in the outer atomic layers of 4-nitrothiophenol coated AuNPs, facilitating electron transport towards the molecules. Moreover, the influence of the interface dipole depends significantly on the adsorbed ligand molecules. The present study paves the way towards the engineering of the electronic properties of the nanoparticle surface, which is of utmost importance for the application of plasmonic nanoparticles in the fields of heterogeneous catalysis and solar energy conversion.
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1039/d1na00737h
SN  - 2516-0230
VL  - 4
IS  - 6
SP  - 1599
EP  - 1607
PB  - Royal Society of Chemistry
CY  - Cambridge
ER  -