The dance of the atoms

Taking pictures of individual atoms allows scientists at the Vienna University of Technology to find out how catalysts behave and how atoms on a surface tend to ball together. For the first time, this clustering effect can be directly observed. In catalysts, this effect is a serious problem: Once the atoms cluster, they are not catalytically active any more. Especially when expensive materials such as gold, platinum or palladium are used, this leads to a huge waste of material and money.

Fuente : http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-06/vuo...