Abstract
Small silver clusters produced by the gas aggregation technique and supported by thin carbon films or asbestos fibres have been investigated by high-resolution electron microscopy. Single crystals and twins have been found, and the proportion of the latter increased with increasing particle size. Both decahedra and cuboctahedra coexist for particles ranging in size between 2 and 10 nm. The cuboctahedra could also be characterized by weak-beam dark-field electron microscopy. Both symmetries were often found to have a few structural defects, the particles with threefold symmetries always containing fewer defects than those with the fivefold symmetries. The influence of contamination by air was also studied.
