In this award, funded by the Experimental Physical Chemistry program of the Chemistry Division, Professor Martin F. Jarrold of Indiana University, his post-doctoral fellow and graduate students will further their work studying the melting and freezing behavior of isolated clusters of <1000 metal atoms. These experiments are conducted by measuring the attenuation of a beam of size-selected metal cluster ions as they pass through a high pressure collision cell. Some of the behaviors that will be studied include: the transition from dynamic to static phase coexistence as cluster size increases, the nature of surface pre-melting, the kinetics of freezing, the effects of impurity atoms, and the nature of liquid clusters. The group will collaborate with the theoretical group of Kanhere in Pune, India, where molecular dynamics simulations of cluster melting will be carried out.
The nature of the melting of nanoscopic sized metal particles is poorly understood. Prof. Jarrold's experiments are providing us with new information on this important physical property of these unusual, technologically important materials. Besides the broader scientific impact of the research, the work provides training to young scientists from the undergraduate through the postdoctoral level.
