Osmium carbonyl clusters on gold and silver nanoparticles as models for studying the interaction with the metallic surface

The surface-cluster interactions between four classes of clusters, viz., (i) those which may be expected to interact directly via the cluster core, (ii) those with a spacer carrying a free thiol functional group, (iii) those with a spacer carrying a free alcohol functional group, and (iv) those with a spacer carrying a free carboxylic acid functional group, with metallic substrate and nanoparticles of silver, and to a lesser extent gold, were examined and compared. In most cases, the clusters interact with both types of surfaces (substrate and nanoparticles) via the tethered functional group. However, cluster fragmentation is commonly observed to occur on the metallic nanoparticle surface.