Formation of surface magic clusters: a pathway to monodispersed nanostructures on surfaces

Surface magic clusters (SMC) are clusters exhibiting enhanced stability at certain sizes on a particular surface. Through the formation of SMC, it is possible to grow an ensemble of nanostructures on a particular surface with extremely narrow size dispersion. Such monodispersed nanostructures are hi ghly desirable for the realization of some emerging nanotechnology. This re view summarizes the recent experimental observations and current theoretica l understanding of SMC and discusses the possibility of exploiting the form ation of such unusual clusters as a pathway to the growth of monodispersed nanostructures on surfaces.