Mass spectrometric stability study of binary MSn clusters (S = Si, Ge, Sn, Pb, and M = Cr, Mn, Cu, Zn)

In this paper, we present a mass spectrometric stability investigation of a series of metal doped group IVA (semi-) metal clusters. Binary metal (M) doped semi-metal (S) MSn (S = Si, Ge, Sn, Pb, and M = Cr, Mn, Cu, Zn) clusters are produced using a dual-target, dual-laser vaporization source and mass analyzed using a reflectron time-of-flight mass spectrometer. The resulting abundance spectra reveal host and dopant dependent stability information for the different systems investigated. From a comparison between the experimental abundance information and computational studies available in literature, the enhanced abundance of several sizes is interpreted in terms of peculiarly stable dopant-encapsulated cagelike structures.