Arun Chutia

Direct Synthesis of Ultrasmall PbS Nanocrystals Passivated with a Metal-Halide-Perovskite-like Monolayer Inorganic shelling is a key strategy to address unwanted, surface-mediated nonradiative pathways in semiconductor nanocrystals. Improved passivation particularly advances the use of the smallest nanocrystals because complex photophysics arise as nanomaterials approach the molecular limit. However, shelling strategies developed for larger/more-robust nanocrystals are not always applicable in this size regime. Herein, we introduce the direct synthesis of ultrasmall (ø < 2 nm) PbS nanocrystals shelled with a range of metal-halide-perovskite-like monolayers by employing the appropriate two-dimensional perovskite as a precursor at the point of nanocrystal growth. These passivated nanocrystals possess improved photoluminescence quantum yields, reduced dynamic spectral red-shifting after photoexcitation, and longer, more-monoexponential photoluminescence dynamics─consistent with a reduction in defect-mediated exciton–phonon coupling. We then apply these shelled, ultrasmall PbS nanocrystals as sensitizers in a triplet-fusion upconversion architecture and observe 2-fold improved triplet yields. This demonstration emphasizes the photophysical benefits realized via our 2D perovskite shelling strategy, which can be applied to other nanocrystals─especially to small particles that are similarly vulnerable to existing strategies for post-synthetic modifications.

This is our story about learning to swap the surface of fragile, <2nm, 'Hines-type' PbS quantum dots, so that it matches the intrinsic ~half-layer perovskite on (larger) PbS QDs made from Pb-halides (h/t Cademartiri/Ozin, Weidman/Tisdale) pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10....
#chemsky #chemistry 🧪

02.05.2024 19:47 — 👍 8    🔁 3    💬 2    📌 0

In honour of the 2025 #NobelPrize in Chemistry, we’ve curated a collection of impactful articles from across RSC journals on metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) 🏆 Free to read until the end of November 👉 pubs.rsc.org/en/jour...

08.10.2025 15:00 — 👍 3    🔁 2    💬 1    📌 0

Insightful

15.11.2025 22:32 — 👍 3    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Transferable MachineLearning Interatomic Potential for Pd-Catalyzed Cross-Coupling Reactions

Our latest ChemRxiv preprint, "Transferable #MachineLearning Interatomic Potential for Pd-Catalyzed Cross-Coupling Reactions" Collaboration with @nsf-ccas.bsky.social @gabegomes.bsky.social @bobbypaton.bsky.social chemrxiv.org/engage/chemr... #compchem #chemsky

18.03.2025 14:12 — 👍 58    🔁 10    💬 4    📌 3

Multi-level QTAIM-enriched graph neural networks for resolving properties of transition metal complexes Here we evaluate the robustness and utility of quantum mechanical descriptors for machine learning with transition metal complexes. We utilize ab initio information from the quantum theory of atoms-in...

Hot off the press: Multi-level QTAIM-enriched graph neural networks for resolving properties of transition metal complexes, now out in @digital-discovery.rsc.org!
👉 doi.org/10.1039/D5DD...

#compchem #chemsky #compchemsky

06.11.2025 19:09 — 👍 7    🔁 2    💬 1    📌 0

Two diverging paths for clean fuel Fischer-Tropsch synthesis can produce liquid fuels from nonpetroleum sources

In two new Science studies, researchers report strategies to maximize the incorporation of hydrogen and carbon atoms into hydrocarbon compounds, offering sustainable routes to liquid fuel production with improved efficiency.

Learn more in a new #SciencePerspective: https://scim.ag/3WCdUew

06.11.2025 23:10 — 👍 32    🔁 6    💬 1    📌 1

Supplementary Cover of JACS Vol 147/Issue 44 Week Commencing November 3, 2025

Introducing a supplementary cover taken from this week’s #JACS issue: ‘Boosting Electrochemical CO2 Reduction to Formate over La-Doped SnO2 via Pinning Effect and Water Activation’.

Find out more: buff.ly/NQNSIiV

06.11.2025 13:02 — 👍 2    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0

🔥New and HOT in Chemical Science!

"A diverse and chemically relevant solvation model benchmark set with flexible molecules and conformer ensembles" by Stefan Grimme et al. from the Mulliken Center for Theoretical Chemistry.

Read it for free here: doi.org/10.1039/D5SC...

#compchemsky

06.11.2025 14:24 — 👍 8    🔁 3    💬 0    📌 0

Did aliens spy on our nuclear test sites? New research shows unidentified flashes in historical photographs from the late 1940s and 1950s of the stars over the northern United States where nuclear testing was being done. Explore the possibilities: https://ow.ly/nrz150XlcSA #astrophysics #astronomy

06.11.2025 15:01 — 👍 1    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0

Capturing the Complexities of Catalyst–Support Interactions with the Help of Machine Learning Maxson and Szilvási use a machine-learned interatomic potential to model supported silver nanoparticles. They show that the idealized nanoparticle shapes commonly invoked in the computational catalys...

@andrewrosen.bsky.social highlights @tibor-szilvasi.bsky.social’s work using ML potentials to model supported Ag nanoparticles - revealing that idealized shapes don’t match experiments below 8 nm. Read the Highlight: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... #AngewandteChemieNovit

03.11.2025 16:34 — 👍 7    🔁 4    💬 0    📌 0

Supplementary Cover of JACS Vol 147/Issue 43 Week Commencing October 27 2025

Explore the science behind this striking supplementary cover from #JACS: ‘Size-Dependent Restructuring of Supported Platinum Cluster Catalysts’.

Find out more: buff.ly/3XFJGyD

03.11.2025 13:02 — 👍 3    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0

🔥New and HOT in Chemical Science!🔥

"The air–water interfacial nitrogen cycle produces irrigatable-level ammonium nitrate" by Chanbasha Basheer and Richard Zare et al.

Read it here: doi.org/10.1039/D5SC...

03.11.2025 17:05 — 👍 2    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0