Reactive Glass Metal Interaction under Ambient Conditions Enables Surface Modification of Gold Nanoislands

TL;DR

This study introduces a novel reactive glass metal interaction method that stabilizes gold nanoislands with tunable surface compositions under ambient conditions, enhancing their potential in catalysis and sensing.

Contribution

The paper demonstrates that RGMI enables stable, multi-element gold nanoislands with altered surface chemistry using sodium aluminophosphosilicate glass at ambient conditions, a significant advancement over previous methods.

Findings

Na and P adsorption induces lattice distortions in Au(111) planes.

RGMI creates robustly anchored gold nanoislands with modified surface composition.

The interface influences hot carrier dynamics, affecting catalytic and optoelectronic properties.

Abstract

Stabilizing gold nanoparticles with tunable surface composition via reactive metal support interactions under ambient conditions remains a significant challenge. We discovered that a reactive glass metal interaction (RGMI) under ambient conditions, driven by the intrinsic catalytic activity of gold nanoislands (GNIs) and the unique properties of sodium aluminophosphosilicate glass, including its chemical composition, molar volume, and high Na ion mobility, enables the formation of robustly anchored GNIs with altered surface compositions. Comprehensive characterization reveals that the adsorption of Na and P at the GNI surfaces induces lattice distortions in the Au(111) planes. Additionally, a smooth GNI glass interface significantly influences the hot carrier dynamics of the GNIs. Altogether, RGMI presents a versatile strategy for engineering stable, multi element nanostructures with potential applications in heterogeneous catalysis, sensing, and optoelectronics.