Isomerizations of a Pt4 cluster revealed by spatiotemporal microscopic analysis

Abstract

We now report the first direct observation of the fluxional nature in which the four-atomic platinum cluster (Pt₄) randomly walks through several isomers. Time-lapse analysis by a Cs-corrected transmission electron microscope allowed us to acquire the atomic coordinates at a sub-angstrom space resolution and 0.2 s time resolution for each cluster isomer. The analysis revealed that the isomerization follows a simple first-order kinetic model.