ABSTRACT
There are several different ways in which reactive superatomic character might be designed into metal clusters, and different pieces of evidence for what kind of bonding might be possible. This chapter considers doping of superatoms, to tune their electronic structure as desired. One of the most exciting differences between atoms and their nanoscale analogues, is the ability people have, in principle, to modify structure of a superatom through chemical substitution. One of the many promises suggested by dopants, however, is ability not only to add or subtract a given number of delocalised valence electrons, thereby modifying the electronic shell structure, but by doping in a transition metal with a number of unpaired d-electrons, creating a superatom that has a magnetic moment. For example, a superatom composed of alkali metal atoms could have a transition metal introduced, creating a superatom in which the magnetic moment is sensitive both to the size of the cluster, and to the type of metal used.
