Palladium small clusters, electronic structure

Palladium Ensembles in Zeolites. Small metal particles or clusters have attracted great interest during the last decade. The optical, electronic and catalytic characteristics of clusters are expected to change from bulk properties to molecular properties within a certain size-range. " This change is represented by the transition of the electronic band structure of a crystal to the molecular orbital levels of species few atoms in size. Since the cluster size determines the relative population of coordination sites and possibly its molecular symmetry, it is thought to be responsible for modified selectivities in a number of catalytic reactions. Controlled synthesis of stable clusters with defined size is of particular interest, because this would potentially allow to fine-tune the properties of electronic materials and catalyst systems. 

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