Paramagnetic silver clusters in irradiated AgA molecular sieves

Abstract

Three paramagnetic silver clusters have been detected in γ-irradiated 4A molecular sieve loaded with silver. These clusters are identified as Ag 2 +, Ag 3 2+, and Ag 6 +. Ag 3 2+ is triangular, 2A′ 1 in D 3 h symmetry, having equal hyperfine interactions with three silver nuclei. Ag 6 + belongs to the octahedral point group ( O h ) and shows 180 MHz hyperfine interactions with six equivalent 107Ag nuclei, and 13 MHz hyperfine interactions with a surrounding cube of eight 107Ag nuclei. It is concluded that the ground state of Ag 6 + is probably 4A 1u.