Tiara-like Hexanuclear Nickel–Platinum Alloy Nanocluster

Tiara-like metal nanoclusters (TNCs) have attracted a great deal of attention because of their high stability and easy synthesis under atmospheric conditions as well as their high activity in various catalytic reactions. Alloying is one of the methods that can be used to control the physicochemical properties of nanoclusters, but few studies have reported on alloy TNCs. In this study, we synthesized alloy TNCs [Ni_xPt_6–x(PET)₁₂, where x = 1–5 and PET = 2-phenylethanethiolate] consisting of thiolate, nickel (Ni), and platinum (Pt). We further evaluated the stability, geometric structure, and electronic structure by high-performance liquid chromatography and density functional theory calculations. The results revealed that Ni_xPt_6–x(PET)₁₂ has a distorted structure and is therefore less stable than single-metal TNCs.