Recombination dynamics of photoluminescence in thiol-protected gold nanoclusters

Abstract

Recombination dynamics of photoluminescence (PL) in Au nanoclusters (NCs) with different capping molecules were studied with time-resolved PL. Based on the emission-energy of carrier lifetimes; we suggest that the fast and slow PL decay of Au NCs originates from recombination of the linear Au–S bond and the staple motif, respectively. The effect of carrier localization in Au NCs was found to depend on the capping molecules. The zero-dimensionality of carriers in Au NCs was demonstrated by the temperature dependence of the time-resolved PL.