A comparative study on the reactivity of cationic niobium clusters with nitrogen and oxygen

We have prepared well-resolved Nb_n⁺（n=1-10） clusters and report here an in-depth study on the essentially different reactivity with N₂ and O₂,by utilizing a multiple-ion laminar flow tube reactor in tandem with a customized triple quadrupole mass spectrometer（MIFT-TQMS）.As results,the Nb_n⁺ clusters are found to readily react with N₂ and form adsorption products Nb_nN_{2 m}⁺;in contrast,the r...