Reactivity and Photodynamics of Size-Selected Metal Clusters

Metal cluster ions were produced by means of sputtering, energy-filtered, and introduced into a tripel-quadrupole arrangement. The arrangement allowed us to perform well-controlled ion-molecule reactions with carbon monoxide. The amount of ligands of the observed carbonyl-reaction products correlates well with established electron counting rules. The ligands are extremely sensitive with respect to photo-desorption. The controlled deposition of silver cluster ions on photographic plates shows that extraordinary catalytic properties may be attributed to metal clusters of a specific size.