Development of a Centre of Excellence for the study of pure metal clusters.

Ultra-small metal particles, especially those of transition metals, lie at the very heart of some of the most industrially and environmentally important catalysis processes. They are the key components in the catalytic converters of cars to clean up exhaust gases reducing smog and in important catlytic processes involved in the preparation of bulk chemicals. Metal nanoparticles are also playing a central role in the nanotechnology revolution. For example small iron particles are used to catalyse the growth of carbon nanotubes the properties of which hold great promise in the development of future materials. Despite their practical importance, however, the structures and reactivity of nanoparticles and small metal clusters remain ill-understood. In particular, little is known about the relationship between the geometrical arrangement of the atoms within a cluster and the reactivity of the cluster itself. Scientists require new methods and experimental techniques to investigate these species in order to realise their full potential.Under this proposal, a centre of excellence for the study of metal clusters would be created at the University of Warwick building upon and expanding the cluster work already in progress there. New instruments and techniques will be developed in an attempt to understand the basic properties of these important systems and new avenues of research initiated. By the end of the project a clearer picture of the structures of metal clusters and how they relate to cluster reactivity will have been revealed which will allow us to make maximum use of them.