Post by Software for Chemistry & Materials

𝗧𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝘁 is valuable for photothermal therapy, solar-driven heating, laser ignition, and other materials applications. But at the nanoscale, making this conversion efficient and predictable remains a challenge. In this new 𝗡𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 paper, researchers around Christine Aikens, Nanfeng Zheng, and Hui Shen show how copper nanoclusters can be engineered with molecular rotor-stator ligands that help convert absorbed light into heat. The key idea is elegant: instead of treating ligand motion as a nuisance, the design uses controlled molecular rotation as part of the photothermal mechanism. The resulting nanoclusters show strong light-to-heat conversion and good cycling stability, pointing to a new design strategy for photothermal materials. 𝗔𝗠𝗦 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗔𝗗𝗙 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽𝗲𝗱 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗵𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀. ADF calculations showed that the adamantane rotors have low rotational barriers not only in the ground state, but also in excited states. Combined with NMR and transient absorption spectroscopy, the modeling helped connect molecular motion to photothermal performance. The mechanistic picture is clear: after light absorption, energy relaxes through the copper core and is then dissipated through rotor motion as heat. 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗶𝗴𝗵𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁: https://lnkd.in/evAAZb4c 𝗧𝗿𝘆 𝗔𝗠𝗦 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲: https://lnkd.in/e85-vZpA #ComputationalChemistry #CompChem #Nanoclusters #PhotothermalMaterials #MaterialsScience #ADF #Nanoscience