Science Daily February 25, 2020
Scientists have shown particular interest in superatomic structures, since they can be linked with atoms to produce molecules, and potentially be used to substitute certain elements in many applications. But for superatoms to be effectively utilized, they must be specially tailored to resemble the characteristics of the corresponding elements. Researchers in Japan fabricated clusters of the element gallium in solution to demonstrate the effects of changing the number of atoms in a cluster on the properties of the cluster. The team synthesized Ga clusters of 3, 12, 13 using a specialized superatom synthesizer. The 13-atom cluster differed from the other clusters structurally and electrochemically. But the 3-atom cluster with hydrogen (Ga3H2) was reduced to Ga3H2- and was not detected, suggesting a low stability of this cluster when synthesized in the solution medium. This study paves the way for future research to investigate the use of superatoms as substitutes for elements…read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE