Magic numbers through chemistry: Evidence for icosahedral structure of hydrogenated cobalt clusters

Abstract

The equilibrium adsorption of H2O on hydrogenated cobalt clusters is used to estimate the cluster–H2O binding energy. Magic numbers, corresponding to clusters with enhanced binding energy, are found for clusters having one more metal atom than closed shells or subshells of the third Mackay icosahedron. It is argued that a lone metal atom outside a closed (sub)shell should have enhanced ability to bind H2O, and that such chemical probes can be used to provide useful information about metal cluster structure.