Abstract
Cage structures exhibit inherent high symmetry and beauty, and both naturally occurring and synthetic molecular-scale cages have been discovered. Their characteristic high surface area and voids have led to their use as catalysts and catalyst supports, filtration media and gas storage materials1,2. Nanometre-scale cage structures have also been synthesized, notably noble-metal cube-shaped cages prepared by galvanic displacement with promising applications in drug delivery and catalysis3,4,5,6. Further functionality for nanostructures in general is provided by the concept of hybrid nanoparticles combining two disparate materials on the same system to achieve synergistic properties stemming from unusual material combinations7,8,9,10,11. We report the integration of the two powerful concepts of cages and hybrid nanoparticles. A previously unknown edge growth mechanism has led to a new type of cage-structured hybrid metal–semiconductor nanoparticle; a ruthenium cage was grown selectively on the edges of a faceted copper(I) sulphide nanocrystal, contrary to the more commonly observed facet and island growth modes of other hybrids7,12,13,14,15. The cage motif was extended by exploiting the open frame to achieve empty cages and cages containing other semiconductors. Such previously unknown nano-inorganic cage structures with variable cores and metal frames manifest new chemical, optical and electronic properties and demonstrate possibilities for uses in electrocatalysis.
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Acknowledgements
Partial financial support by the Israel Science Foundation (grant 972/08), and the ERC grant DCENSY is acknowledged. U.B. thanks the Alfred and Erica Larisch Memorial Chair in Solar Energy. M.B.S. thanks the Minerva Fellowship program funded by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research and the Sara Lee Schupf Postdoctoral Fellowship. The authors also thank D. Mandler for use of electrochemisty instrumentation.
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J.E.M. and U.B. designed the experiments and wrote the manuscript. J.E.M. carried out the experiments, materials characterization and analysis. I.P. assisted with HAADF-STEM and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy measurements and provided commentary on the manuscript and materials analysis. M.B.S. carried out the tomography experiments and the analysis of its data and wrote parts of the manuscripts. L.H. wrote the tomographic processing software and assisted in the reconstruction, provided the aberration-corrected HAADF-STEM images and commented on the manuscript.
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Macdonald, J., Bar Sadan, M., Houben, L. et al. Hybrid nanoscale inorganic cages. Nature Mater 9, 810–815 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat2848
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat2848
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