Observation of Au2H- Impurity in Pure Gold Clusters and Implications for the Anomalous Au-Au Distances in Gold Nanowires

November 1, 2004

Journal Article

Observation of Au2H- Impurity in Pure Gold Clusters and Implications for the Anomalous Au-Au Distances in Gold Nanowires

Abstract

Au2H- was recognized and confirmed as a minor contamination to typical photoelectron spectra of Au2-, produced by laser vaporization of a pure Au target using an ultrahigh purity helium carrier gas. The hydrogen source was shown to be from trace H impurities present in the bulk gold target. Carefully designed experiments using H2- and D2- seeded helium carrier gas were used to study the electronic structure of Au2H- and Au2D- using photoelectron spectroscopy and density functional calculations. Well-resolved photoelectron spectra with vibrational resolution were obtained for Au2H- and Au2D-. Two isomers were observed both experimentally and theoretically.

Revised: May 10, 2005 | Published: November 1, 2004

Citation

Zhai H.J., B. Kiran, and L.S. Wang. 2004. Observation of Au2H- Impurity in Pure Gold Clusters and Implications for the Anomalous Au-Au Distances in Gold Nanowires. Journal of Chemical Physics 121, no. 17:8231-8236. PNNL-SA-43600.