Cluster science
It is our goal to develop a bottom-up understanding of the interactions that drive heterogeneous catalytic processes on a molecular level, in particular of the catalytic activity of the transition metal clusters, the smallest heterogeneous catalysts. Metal clusters form the limiting factor in the surface-to-volume ratio for precious catalytic materials and can exhibit unexpected catalytic activity.
To this end we study the geometric and electronic structure of transition metal clusters with and without reactants in the gas phase, where an exceptional control over size- and charge allows for a fundamental understanding of the interaction between catalyst and substrate, one molecule at a time.