Multifunctionality of silver closo-boranes.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 28443627.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/ncomms15136 and PMC identifier 5414069.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Silver compounds share a rich history in technical applications including photography, catalysis, photocatalysis, cloud seeding and as antimicrobial agents. Here we present a class of silver compounds (Ag<sub>2</sub>B<sub>10</sub>H<sub>10</sub> and Ag<sub>2</sub>B<sub>12</sub>H<sub>12</sub>) that are semiconductors with a bandgap at 2.3 eV in the green visible light spectrum. The silver boranes have extremely high ion conductivity and dynamic-anion facilitated Ag<sup>+</sup> migration is suggested based on the structural model. The ion conductivity is enhanced more than two orders of magnitude at room temperature (up to 3.2 mS cm<sup>-1</sup>) by substitution with AgI to form new compounds. Furthermore, the closo-boranes show extremely fast silver nano-filament growth when excited by electrons during transmission electron microscope investigations. Ag nano-filaments can also be reabsorbed back into Ag<sub>2</sub>B<sub>12</sub>H<sub>12</sub>. These interesting properties demonstrate the multifunctionality of silver closo-boranes and open up avenues in a wide range of fields including photocatalysis, solid state ionics and nano-wire production.