Synthesizing a superatom: Opening doors to their use as substitutes for elemental atoms

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 […]