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Updated: Jun 24, 2026

Ligand-Mediated Nucleation and Growth of Palladium Metal Nanoparticles
Published on: June 25, 2018
Spontaneous formation of dipolar metal nanoclusters
Sara E Mason1, Elizabeth A Sokol, Valentino R Cooper
1The Makineni Theoretical Laboratories, Department of Chemistry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-6323, USA.
Abstract:
The adsorption of three- and four-atom Ag and Pd clusters on the alpha-Al(2)O(3) (0001) surface is explored with density functional theory. Within each adsorbed cluster, two different cluster-surface interactions are present. We find that clusters simultaneously form both ionic bonds with surface oxygen and intermetallic bonds with surface aluminum. The simultaneous formation of disparate electronic structure motifs within a single metal nanoparticle is termed a "dipolar nanocluster". This coexistence is ascribed to a balance of geometric constraints and metal electronic structure, and its importance for nanoparticle catalysis is highlighted.
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