Reversible electron-transfer reactions within a nanoscale metal oxide cage mediated by metallic substrates
- Resource Type
- Authors
- Nicolas Bovet; Christopher Fleming; Vin Dhanak; Paul Kögerler; Nicola McMillan; Jacqueline Johnston; Malcolm Kadodwala; Nikolaj Gadegaard; De-Liang Long; Leroy Cronin
- Source
- Nature Nanotechnology. 3:229-233
- Subject
- Materials science
Macromolecular Substances
Biomedical Engineering
Oxide
Electrons
Bioengineering
Nanotechnology
Electronic structure
Photochemistry
Electron Transport
Metal
chemistry.chemical_compound
Electron transfer
Delocalized electron
Transition metal
Materials Testing
Computer Simulation
General Materials Science
Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Molybdenum
Dopant
Oxides
Tungsten Compounds
Condensed Matter Physics
Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
Nanostructures
Models, Chemical
chemistry
visual_art
Polyoxometalate
visual_art.visual_art_medium
- Language
- ISSN
- 1748-3395
1748-3387
Transition metal oxides exhibit a rich collection of electronic properties and have many practical applications in areas such as catalysis and ultra-high-density magnetic data storage. Therefore the development of switchable molecular transition metal oxides has potential for the engineering of single-molecule devices and nanoscale electronics. At present, the electronic properties of transition metal oxides can only be tailored through the irreversible introduction of dopant ions, modifying the electronic structure by either injecting electrons or core holes. Here we show that a molybdenum(VI) oxide 'polyoxometalate' molecular nanocluster containing two embedded redox agents is activated by a metallic surface and can reversibly interconvert between two electronic states. Upon thermal activation two electrons are ejected from the active sulphite anions and delocalized over the metal oxide cluster cage, switching it from a fully oxidized state to a two-electron reduced state along with the concomitant formation of an S-S bonding interaction between the two sulphur centres inside the cluster shell.