Correlating structure and properties of novel functional molecular metal clusters deposited on surfaces and embedded in 3D matrices

Molecular metal clusters (MMCs) are metal aggregates below 20 atoms presenting a molecule-like behavior that confer them very promising functionalities for applications in diverse fields such as photonics, catalysis, and spintronics. Although a new class of high performance materials based on (multi)functional MMCs is rapidly growing, fundamental understanding of their (electronic) structure and their properties is today very often lacking, making the design of novel materials with tailored functionalities very difficult. The main challenges lay both in the difficulty of synthesizing and stabilizing monodisperse MMCs and in the limited sensitivity of traditional characterization techniques. We propose to overcome these limitations by developing an interdisciplinary strategy to investigate and correlate with unmatched precision the (electronic) structure of noble and transition metal MMCs with their functionalities. Series of monodisperse MMCs with promising luminescence, catalytic, and magnetic properties will be deposited on surfaces or embedded into carbon and silicon matrices using the innovative physical cluster beam deposition technique as well as confined in zeolite templates by chemical methods. Their (electronic) structure, investigated interactively by a combination of advanced X-ray absorption spectroscopies supported by state-of-the-art atom probe tomography and aberration corrected electron microscopy will be correlated with their functionalities. -