Recombination dynamics of photoluminescence in thiol-protected gold nanoclusters

Recombination dynamics of photoluminescence (PL) in Au nanoclusters (NCs) with different capping molecules were studied with time-resolved PL. Based on the emission-energy of carrier lifetimes; we suggest that the fast and slow PL decay of Au NCs originates from recombination of the linear Au-S bond and the staple motif, respectively. The effect of carrier localization in Au NCs was found to depend on the capping molecules. The zero-dimensionality of carriers in Au NCs was demonstrated by the temperature dependence of the time-resolved PL.