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A General Approach to Access Morphologies of Polyoxometalates in Solution by Using SAXS: An Ab Initio Modeling Protocol
Author(s) -
Li Mu,
Wang Weiyu,
Yin Panchao
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
chemistry – a european journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.687
H-Index - 242
eISSN - 1521-3765
pISSN - 0947-6539
DOI - 10.1002/chem.201800344
Subject(s) - small angle x ray scattering , ab initio , aqueous solution , protocol (science) , scattering , materials science , particle (ecology) , small angle scattering , crystallography , chemistry , physics , organic chemistry , optics , medicine , alternative medicine , oceanography , pathology , geology
Herein, we reported a general protocol for an ab initio modeling approach to deduce structure information of polyoxometalates (POMs) in solutions from scattering data collected by the small‐angle X‐ray scattering (SAXS) technique. To validate the protocol, the morphologies of a serious of known POMs in either aqueous or organic solvents were analyzed. The obtained particle morphologies were compared and confirmed with previous reported crystal structures. To extend the feasibility of the protocol to an unknown system of aqueous solutions of Na 2 MoO 4 with the pH ranging from −1 to 8.35, the formation of {Mo 36 } clusters was probed, identified, and confirmed by SAXS. The approach was further optimized with a multi‐processing capability to achieve fast analysis of experimental data, thereby, facilitating in situ studies of formations of POMs in solutions. The advantage of this approach is to generate intuitive 3D models of POMs in solutions without confining information such as symmetries and possible sizes.