Surface site coordination dependent responses resolved in free clusters: applications for neutral sub-nanometer cluster studies

Abstract

In this paper we demonstrate how surface site specific experimental information can be obtained from free low nanometer scale clusters using photoelectron spectroscopy utilising synchrotron radiation. In addition, we show how it can be used to gain insight into the geometry and surface structure of the clusters. The present experiments were conducted on alkali metal halides, RbCl and CsCl, which were chosen as advantageous test cases due to their simple electronic and geometric structures. These heavy alkali metal salts provide additional clarity since the surface and bulk responses can be separated, which is not the case for clusters of lighter alkali metal salts. Computational chemical shift calculations and simple alkali halide cluster size modelling were used to interpret the experimental results.