Transportable Mononuclear Metal Atoms as Building Blocks for Bottom-up Material Fabrication: Pt1(0) and Au1(0) Atoms in Stock Solutions

Graphical In stock : Stock solutions of reduced mononuclear M 1 (0) (M=Pt, Au) atoms are prepared from their chloride salt precursors in removable solvent glycol ether/ethanol/H 2 O. Glycol ether and HCl function as strippable shields prevent M 1 (0) atoms from aggregation. The releasable M 1 (0) atoms suit as building-blocks for designable bottom-up material fabrications. Specifically, M 1 (0) atoms are readily transported onto the TiO 2 surface and remain in the reduced mononuclear state. Premade and readily transportable mononuclear zero-valent metal atoms in stock solvents offer the potential capability for bottom-up designable metallic material fabrication. This work demonstrates a potentially universal and practical strategy to prepare weakly shielded mononuclear metal atoms in a volatile solvent, which also constitutes a strippable ligand to the metal atoms. Herein, M 1 (0) (M=Pt, Au) atoms are prepared by reducing H 2 PtCl 6 and HAuCl 4 with ethanol in ethylene glycol diethyl ether (EGDE) under mild temperatures. The diether oxygens of EGDE, H + , and Cl − coordinating to the M 1 (0) atoms, make the M 1 (0) atoms stable in the solvent under low pH. However, the M 1 (0) atoms can be released either by evaporation of HCl and EGDE or through neutralization of the HCl with a base. The premade M 1 (0) atoms can be used as primary building blocks to construct designable materials. To demonstrate a potential application, the M 1 (0) atoms are conveniently transported onto the surface of TiO 2 through impregnation followed by mild heating. The atomic dispersion and reduced state of the metal atoms are well preserved, as verified by HAADF-STEM images, XPS, and DRIFT spectroscopy.