Metal Nanocluster‐Based Manufacturing of 2D Film With an Insulator‐to‐Conductor Tunability

ABSTRACT Although metal nanoclusters (NCs) are ideal building units, significant challenges remain in manipulating their gathering and tuning the as‐obtained aggregate properties. Herein, we introduce an electro‐driven strategy and reveal the voltage‐dependent assembly on interdigitated microelectrodes based on Au 25 NCs: crystallizing at 0.5 V, NC‐based filming at 1.3 V, and nanocrystal‐based filming at 2.6 V. More interestingly, the film formed at 2.6 V can be varied from an insulator to a conductor, and even such a large conductivity tunability (from ∞ to ∼0.3 Ω) can be extended to the films formed from some other metal NCs such as Ag 25 , Pt 23 , and Pd 8 . The as‐obtained films show novel, promising properties not found in molecular NCs, as illustrated by the electrothermy and current‐limiting properties. Thus, this work not only provides a novel strategy for metal NCs’ gathering but also pioneers metal NC‐based electro‐manufacturing for novel findings and potential applications.