Professor Zhang Jun’s research papers was published in《Journal of the American Chemical Society》

Professor Zhang Jun’s research papers was published in《Journal of the American Chemical Society》

  Recently, Pro. Zhang Jun’s group from State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil, College of Chemical Engineering in UPC made a breakthrough in their study of “magic sizednanoclusters”(MSNCs) cooperating with scientists from Argonne National Laboratory inUnited States. The paper entitled‘Evolution of Self-assembled ZnTe Magic Sized Nanoclusters’ was published on Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS).

  Ultrasmall nanoclusters in the size range of 1−2 nm, whichcontain a defined number of atoms and thus a single size, areoften referred to as magic-sized nanoclusters (MSNCs). As distinct state of matter, MSCNs belong to the interestingintersection region between molecular and larger nanocrystals.Owing to the unique structures and/or compositionconfiguration, as well as thermodynamic stability compared to normal nanomaterials, MSNCs often show exotic chemical and physicalproperties, making them very promising materials for applications in optics, magnetism, electronics and catalysis.In addition, MSCNs with high-stability andexact same size can form so-called “cluster assembledmaterials”, providing a promising approach for the designof nanodevices.

  Pro. Zhang Jun’s group came up with a new methodology, using polytellurides as a precursor in the synthesis of ZnTe MSNCs. Three different magic sized clusters have been successfully prepared in organic phase. These three kind of ZnTe MSNCs show different structures, assembly behavior and optical properties.The method opened a new world of ZnTe MSNC materials and may be used to synthesize other MSNC materials with controlledmorphology, size, phase as well as exotic properties.