Superatoms Shiv Khanna Research Group

Superatoms – clusters of atoms that have the power to mimic the properties of other elements – have been linked up to make molecules for the first time. These could be the building blocks for advanced magnetic materials and electronics.

Chemists began building superatoms when they discovered that certain arrangements of atoms can behave like scaled-up versions of a single atom of a different kind. These superatoms pool their electrons into shells around a central core, and since such shells determine the chemical properties of an atom, the superatom takes on those characteristics.

“In a regular atom, the atom has its own properties,” says Shiv Khanna at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, one of the pioneers of superatom research. But since superatoms are made up of many particles, you can swap out some of the parts to get new features, he says. “Nature doesn’t provide these kinds of things.”


Now a team led by Xavier Roy at Columbia University, New York, has taken the concept one step further by constructing pairs or trios of superatoms – the simplest kind of superatom molecule possible.

They built the core of their superatoms out of six cobalt and eight selenium atoms, then added arms, or ligands, made from a variety of other atoms. These ligands are designed to fit together, mimicking a chemical bond at the super-scale.

“We’re aiming to make things where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts,” says Roy. “We’re interested in new types of magnetic material or conductive material. By controlling the coupling between the superatoms, we can tailor that now.”

The team plans to build large assemblages of superatoms with these tailored properties, which could provide the basis for new kinds of electronics and sensors.

“These are truly new units they have made, which are going to open potentially new areas,” says Khanna. “I’m quite excited.”

Journal reference: Nano Letters, DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.6b02471