Unprecedented stacking-dependent piezoluminescence enhancement in atomically precise superatomic gold nanoclusters
- Hua-Yang Ru
- Ji-Kun Yang
- Ya-Ni Yang
- Qiu-Yang Wan
- Meng-Jie Zhu
- Jia-Hua Hu
- Jing Li
- Qi Li
- Meng Zhou
- Gang Li
- Gaosong Chen
- Yonggang Wang
- Lei Jiang
- Yuchen Wu
- Shuang-Quan Zang
2025-05-30
Deciphering the structure-property relationship between cluster stacking and high-efficiency luminescence of metal nanoclusters is crucial for designing and synthesizing high-performance light-emitting materials and devices. Here, we successfully synthesized two polymorphic gold nanoclusters (Au 8 -C and Au 8 -P) and investigated their stacking-dependent piezoluminescence based on hydrostatic pressure. Under compression, Au 8 -C exhibits notable piezoluminescence enhancement. However, Au 8 -P presents monotonic piezoluminescence quenching. High-pressure structural characterizations confirm the existence of stacking-dependent anisotropic compression in Au 8 -C and Au 8 -P. Under high pressure, the columnar-stacked Au 8 -C shrinks faster along the a axis, increasing the aspect ratio (AR) of the fusiform Au 8 core. However, the layered Au 8 -P is compressed faster along the c axis, reducing the AR and leading to a flatter Au 8 core. High-pressure femtosecond transient absorption, time-resolved photoluminescence, and Raman spectra collaboratively confirm that differentiated anisotropic compression notably suppresses nonradiative loss caused by low-frequency vibrations of the Au 8 core, which is responsible for the piezoluminescence enhancement in Au 8 -C.