ZnO nested shell magic clusters as tetrapod nuclei

Abstract

Although atomic clusters are generally different from bulk material in terms of their structure, they can initiate (nano)crystal formation. For ZnO, tetrapod-like nanostructures are well known; however, their nucleation model is still questionable. In this report, ZnO magic clusters were considered as seeds for the nucleation of tetrapods; these clusters were characterized via mass spectroscopy and were attributed to a series of nested shell clusters via quantum chemical calculations. Herein, these clusters were constructed as nested Goldberg polyhedra and subjected to Jahn-Teller distortion.