Metal-cluster compounds: Model systems for nanosized metal particles

Abstract

Meta-cluster compounds can be exploited advantageously to study the evolution, with increasing size of the molecules of the physical properties of metal clusters from molecular to bulk-metal behavior. The metal-cluster molecules are well-defined, stoichiometric, chemical compounds. The molecules consist of a metal core of a variable number of atoms, surrounded by a shell of ligand atoms or molecules. Depending on the compound, the type of metal atom may be varied, whereas the core size can be changed from a few up to several thousands of atoms. Accordingly, these materials provide excellent model systems for monodisperse metal particles, embedded in a dielectric matrix, and can be investigated by the well-known experimental techniques of solid-state physics.