Ionization potentials of cobalt–sodium bimetallic clusters (ConNam)

Nanoalloys: tuning properties and characteristics through size and composition

A brief sketch of the history of metals and alloys is followed by examples illustrating the current status of the field of nanoalloys and a discussion of our results on the characterization of structural and dynamical (thermal) properties of Ni-Al bimetallic clusters.

Element- and size-dependent electron delocalization in AuNX+ clusters (X = Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni)

We investigated the stability of gold clusters doped with open 3d-shell atoms (Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni). Steps, peaks, and odd-even staggering in mass abundance spectra upon photofragmentation provide evidence for enhanced stability for specific cluster sizes. The observed magic numbers are explained in terms of size- and dopant-dependent modifications of the effective mean-field potential within a phenomenological shell-model approach. Element-dependent 3d electron delocalization and odd-even staggering amplitudes are related to the dopant-atom structure.

REACTIONS OFTRANSITIONMETALCLUSTERS WITHSMALLMOLECULES

Atoms and small molecules react with transition metal clusters in ways that are analogous to the physisorption and chemisorption reactions observed on the corresponding extended metal surface. However, often underlying these similarities are size-dependent variations in the reaction mechanisms and rates, the interpretation of which requires a detailed understanding of the structures of both the bare metal cluster substrates and the cluster-molecule complexes. Although polyatomic transition metal clusters cannot be characterized by the traditional methods of molecular spectroscopy, the combination of other physical and chemical probes can provide qualitative and semiquantitative structural information. These techniques, when combined with equilibrium geometries calculated using ab initio or semiempirical methods, provide a detailed picture of the structural origin of metal cluster reactivity and its variation with size.