Magnetochemistry 2015, 1, 28-44; doi:10.3390/magnetochemistry1010028 OPEN ACCESS magnetochemistry ISSN 2312-7481 www.mdpi.com/journal/magnetochemistry Article Magnetic Properties and the Superatom Character of 13-Atom Platinum Nanoclusters Emil Roduner 1,2,* and Christopher Jensen 1,† 1 Institute of Physical Chemistry, University of Stuttgart, Pfaffenwaldring 55, D-70569 Stuttgart, Germany; E-Mail:
[email protected] 2 Chemistry Department, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002, South Africa † Present address: ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions AG, Business Unit Process Technologies, Neubeckumer Straße 127, D-59320 Ennigerloh, Germany. * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail:
[email protected] or
[email protected]; Tel.: +0041-44-422-34-28. Academic Editor: Carlos J. Gómez García Received: 25 October 2015 / Accepted: 18 November 2015 / Published: 26 November 2015 Abstract: 13-atom platinum nanoclusters have been synthesized quantitatively in the pores of the zeolites NaY and KL. They reveal highly interesting magnetic properties like high-spin states, a blocking temperature, and super-diamagnetism, depending heavily on the loading of chemisorbed hydrogen. Additionally, EPR active states are observed. All of these magnetic properties are understood best if one considers the near-spherical clusters as analogs of transition metal atoms with low-spin and high-spin states, and with delocalized molecular orbitals which have a structure similar to that of atomic orbitals. These clusters are, therefore, called superatoms, and it is their analogy with normal atoms which is in the focus of the present work, but further phenomena, like the observation of a magnetic blocking temperature and the possibility of superconductivity, are discussed.