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Atomically Resolved Chemical Reactivity of Small Fe Clusters
- Source :
- Physical review letters. 124(9)
- Publication Year :
- 2019
-
Abstract
- Small metal clusters have been investigated for decades due to their beneficial catalytic activity. It was found that edges are most reactive and the number of catalytic events increases with the cluster's size. However, a direct measurement of chemical reactivity of individual atoms within the clusters has not been reported yet. We combine the high-resolution capability of CO-terminated tips in scanning probe microscopy with their ability to probe chemical binding forces on single Fe atoms to study the chemical reactivity of atom-by-atom assembled Fe clusters from 1 to 15 atoms on the atomic scale. We find that the chemical reactivity of individual atoms within flat Fe clusters does not depend on the cluster size but on the coordination number of the investigated atom. Furthermore, we explain the atomic contrast of the investigated Fe clusters by relating the force spectra of individual atoms with atomic force microscopy images of the clusters.
- Subjects :
- inorganic chemicals
Condensed Matter::Quantum Gases
Materials science
Coordination number
ddc:530
General Physics and Astronomy
530 Physik
01 natural sciences
Atomic units
Spectral line
Catalysis
Scanning probe microscopy
Chemical physics
0103 physical sciences
Atom
Cluster (physics)
Physics::Atomic and Molecular Clusters
Chemical binding
Physics::Atomic Physics
010306 general physics
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 10797114
- Volume :
- 124
- Issue :
- 9
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Physical review letters
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....267a3063b735925881259b2d101d85bb