The Evolution in Catalytic Activity Driven by Periodic Transformation in the Inner Sites of Gold Clusters

It is extremely difficult to distinguish the contributions of different sites on the surface and in the inner sites of a catalyst to the overall catalytic performance, as the observed catalytic results reflect an ensemble average from almost all the active sites. How do the inner sites of a catalyst that seem to be not directly involved in a catalytic process exactly contribute to the catalytic performance? Toward this goal, herein the studies not only provide fundamental insights into how the alteration of Au_{8 n +4}(SR)_{4 n +8} clusters by only the inner structure can dramatically change the intrinsic catalytic properties, where Au_{8 n +4}(SR)_{4 n +8} (n = 3, 4, 5) clusters have the same surface motifs but share a periodic kernel structure, but also further demonstrate that the evolution in catalytic activity can potentially be determined by periodic transformation in the inner kernels.