Mass spectrometric investigation of silver clusters

Silver clusters were produced by two different synthesis procedures, related with different reduction species. PVA (polyvinyl alcohol) was successfully utilized as a source to reduce silver (Ag) metal ions without using any additional reducing agents to obtain Ag clusters. Silver clusters with atoms numbering 5-29 are registered through mass spectrometry using MALDI TOF and MALDI TOF/TOF techniques. Analysis showed that clusters with magic numbers are the largest, while those with an odd number of atoms are larger than clusters with an even number of atoms. Stability of these molecules, magic number actually, is in relation with their electronic configuration