A Study on Au(I)‐thiolate Nanosheets as Water‐dispersible UV Absorbents

Abstract UV screening is very important for the prevention of skin cancer and the elongation of the lifetime of organic/polymeric stuff. To overcome the main problems of poor hydrophilicity and easy leakage of organic UV absorbents, water‐dispersible Au(I)‐thiolate nanosheets have been studied as a new type of UV absorbents. The results show that Au(I)‐thiolate nanosheets have i) very high molar absorption coefficients (>15000 mol/L^.cm), ii) comparable or superior photostability to typical organic UV absorbents, and iii) high transparency and nearly no leakage in polymer matrix. So far, no other UV absorbents have been reported to have all the above good performances simultaneously. The transparent and colorless Au(I)‐thiolate/polymer thin films can effectively block UV light, and such a material will surely extend the types and the application scenarios of UV absorbents.