From atom-precise nanoclusters to superatom materials

Bridging the gas and condensed phases for metal-atom encapsulating silicon- and germanium-cage superatoms: electrical properties of assembled superatoms

“…Certain NCs with adequate size and elemental composition make their electronic structure similar to that of atoms in the periodic table. 6,34,35 Like atoms form an electronic shell composed of atomic orbitals of s, p, d, f,. .…”

“…Certain NCs with adequate size and elemental composition make their electronic structure similar to that of atoms in the periodic table. 6,34,35 Like atoms form an electronic shell composed of atomic orbitals of s, p, d, f,… SAs have resembled orbitals called superatomic orbitals that are delocalized to overall SA denoted as S, P, D, F,… with capital letters representing the angular momentum of the superatomic orbitals. The concept of SAs can explain various features of SAs in terms of the electronic shell model.…”

Galvanic replacement-induced introduction of a heteroligand into bimetallic and trimetallic nanoclusters

“…Ligand-protected metal nanoclusters (NCs) with atom-precise compositions have undergone many developments in their fine-tuning optical, catalytic, and biomedical applications. [1][2][3] These NCs exhibit optical properties that are correlated to several factors, such as the geometry and electron count of their kernel, the presence of a dopant (if any), the nature of the ligand-protected layer, and the possible supramolecular assembly of the NCs. [4][5][6][7][8][9][10] Thus, molecular engineering of these features has become a fascinating task.…”

Probing Superatomic Orbitals of Sc-Doped and Undoped Silver Cluster Anions via Photoelectron Angular Anisotropy

“…The discrete energy levels are often termed as superatomic orbitals (SAOs), which have indeed been identified in their photoelectron spectra. − Note that the difference between SAOs and ordinary atomic orbitals (1s, 2s, 2p, 3s, 3p, 3d, ...) in principal and angular momentum quantum numbers is due to their different potential fields: quantum well and Coulomb potentials. The concept of SAOs is now essential for understanding their size-dependent properties, discovering unique metal clusters called “superatoms”, and rationally designing functional materials based on superatoms in solutions …”