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Updated: Aug 15, 2026

Millifluidics for Chemical Synthesis and Time-resolved Mechanistic Studies
Published on: November 27, 2013
Controlled Deposition of Size-Selected Silver Nanoclusters
1Institut de Physique Experimentale, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
Abstract:
Variable-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy was used to study the effect of kinetic cluster energy and rare-gas buffer layers on the deposition process of size-selected silver nanoclusters on a platinum(111) surface. Clusters with impact energies of =1 electron volt per atom could be landed nondestructively on the bare substrate, whereas at higher kinetic energies fragmentation and substrate damage were observed. Clusters with elevated impact energy could be soft-landed via an argon buffer layer on the platinum substrate, which efficiently dissipated the kinetic energy. Nondestructive cluster deposition represents a promising method to produce monodispersed nanostructures at surfaces.

