Self-assembly is a powerful technology to construct nanomaterials with helical structures. However, using metal nanoclusters (NCs) as the building blocks for the construction of helical architectures is still rarely reported. In this paper, Au NC assembled helical ribbons (Au NCHRs) are successfully constructed by using Au NCs as the building blocks. Effects of heating mode, solvent polarity and ligand length on the self-assembly process of Au NCs are discussed. The results indicate that the lengths of overlapped and nonoverlapped ligands between adjacent Au NCs play the dominated role on adjusting the morphologies of the resulting assemblies. Ligands with appropriate overlap can provide sufficient flexibility for the helical assembly of Au NCs without losing the stability. If the length of the overlapped parts is too long, the assemblies are usually rigid without the helical structure. Instead, the overlength of nonoverlapped ligands will boost the flexibility but damage the structural stability of the assemblies. Since everything in the world is assembled by atoms and molecules, recognizing the self-assembly mechanism of NCs may promote our understanding on the bountiful complexity of life and nature.

中文翻译：

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通过控制封端配体的柔性，将金纳米团簇自组装成螺旋带

自组装是构造具有螺旋结构的纳米材料的强大技术。然而，仍然很少有报道使用金属纳米团簇（NCs）作为构建螺旋结构的基础。在本文中，以Au NCs为构件成功构建了Au NC组装的螺旋带（Au NCHRs）。讨论了加热方式，溶剂极性和配体长度对金纳米管自组装过程的影响。结果表明，在相邻的Au NCs之间重叠和不重叠的配体的长度在调节所得组装体的形态方面起着主导作用。具有适当重叠的配体可以为Au NC的螺旋组装提供足够的灵活性，而不会失去稳定性。如果重叠部分的长度太长，组件通常是刚性的，没有螺旋结构。而是，不重叠配体的长度过长将提高柔韧性，但会损坏组件的结构稳定性。由于世界上所有事物都是由原子和分子组装而成的，认识到NC的自组装机制可能会增进我们对生命和自然的丰富复杂性的理解。