Deposition, Ligand Removal, and Applications of Atomically Precise, Chemically Synthesized Clusters on Metal Oxide Surfaces

An account of the current state of materials prepared from chemically synthesized, atomically precise clusters deposited onto metal oxide surfaces is presented in this chapter. Different types of metal cores and their ligands are considered, and typical procedures are summarized for ligand removal. Various methodologies used for characterizing the resultant system are described. Important information to be learnt includes size and stability of the cluster (i.e. isolated or agglomerated), fate of the ligands, and the extent of electronic interaction between cluster and substrate, which are important to understand if these systems are to be developed as new materials, for example in catalysts.