Generation of large gas-phase silver cluster ions by laser desorption/ionization of silver-containing salts

This work is the first to demonstrate the direct generation of large silver cluster ions through laser desorption/ionization of silver-containing salts without the assistance of a molecular beam. Both positively and negatively charged silver clusters up to 100-mer have been produced using this approach. It was observed that the silver cluster distributions produced by this method are similar to those produced using the beam-based approaches, namely there are two special features in the mass spectra. The first is that the cluster intensity distribution displays an odd–even alternation pattern. The second is a steep decrease of ion intensities after some clusters called `magic numbersʹ.