Deposition of size-selected metal clusters on inert graphite surface with atomic anchors

A novel method was developed to fix size-selected metal clusters firmly on an inert surface; atomic anchors are fixed on the surface by injecting atomic ions on it and then by soft-landing metal clusters which are pinned to the anchors. In the present report, we demonstrated a utility of this method by using a system of W9 + to W+ anchors. The atomic anchors and the clusters thus prepared on a graphite (0001) surface were observed by means of scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). It was found that mono-atomically arranged tungsten clusters are firmly fixed on the surface as W9+1.