Bismuth Cluster-Based Materials

Bi-based nanostructures provide us with extraordinary chances of addressing chemical and physical ways of energy conversion, catalysis and optical devices as environmentally benign and stable smart materials.

However, methods used so far to manufacture nanostructured Bi-based materials are heavily restricted with regard to the control of molecular structures and atomic compositions of the targeted compounds.

Herein, we present an innovative chemical methodology of creating Bi-based materials from atom-precise molecular (0D) clusters.

Based on our preliminary results, a vast amount of structural motifs and elemental compositions of anionic Bi clusters are possible.

We will identify and prepare homo- and heterometallic Bi-based clusters and fabricate nano-architectures in a predictable, sustainable and reproducible fashion.

These will be transformed into chemically active nano-architectures with defined larger molecular or extended (1D, 2D, 3D) structures and tailor-made compositions by novel and creative methods of treating such molecular clusters.

Both the fabrication of the 0D clusters and their further processing to form extended networks will be designed and guided by theoretical considerations.

The combination of the novel synthetic strategy with the digital twin will provide us with a tool for Bi-based materials synthesis never seen before, which ultimately will also be available for the synthesis of other inorganic compounds.

Thus, an approach akin to the ubiquitous organic retrosynthesis will be created, unprecedented in inorganic and materials science to date.

In this regard, BiCMat leads us to both a conceptual innovation and novel high-value materials, providing a guideline for material science in the future at the forefront of scientific innovation.