Electronic Structure of Au25 Clusters: Between Discrete and Continuous

Abstract

Here, an approach based on synchrotron resonant photoemission is emplyed to explore the transition between quantization and hybridization of the electronic structure in atomically precise ligand-stabilized nanoparticles. While the presence of ligands maintains quantization in Au25 clusters, their removal renders increased hybridization of the electronic states at the vicinity of the Fermi level. These observations are supported by DFT studies.