Appearance of bulk properties in small tungsten oxide clusters

Authors

Q. Sun, Virginia Commonwealth University
B. K. Rao, Virginia Commonwealth University
P. Jena, Virginia Commonwealth UniversityFollow
D. Stolcic, University of Konstanz
Y. D. Kim, University of Konstanz
Gerd Gantefor, University of Konstanz
A. W. Castleman Jr., The Pennsylvania State University

Document Type

Article

Original Publication Date

2004

Journal/Book/Conference Title

The Journal of Chemical Physics

Volume

121

Issue

19

DOI of Original Publication

10.1063/1.1807374

Comments

Originally published at http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.1807374

Date of Submission

October 2015

Abstract

Contrary to the conventional understanding that atomic clusters usually differ in properties and structure from the bulk constituents of which they are comprised, we show that even a dimer of tungsten oxide (WO3)2 possesses bulklike features and the geometry of a small cluster containing only 4 tungsten and 12 oxygen atoms bears the hallmarks of crystalline tungsten oxide, WO3. This observation, based on a synergistic approach involving mass distributions under quasisteady state conditions, photoelectron spectroscopy, and first principles molecular orbital theory, not only illustrates the existence of a class of strongly covalent or ionic materials whose embryonic forms are tiny clusters but also lends the possibility that a fundamental understanding of complex processes such as catalyticreactions on surfaces may be achieved on an atomic scale with clusters as model systems.

Rights

Sun, Q., Rao, B. K., Jena, P., et al. Appearance of bulk properties in small tungsten oxide clusters. The Journal of Chemical Physics 121, 9417 (2004). Copyright © 2004 AIP Publishing LLC.

Is Part Of

VCU Physics Publications