ZnO nested shell magic clusters as tetrapod nuclei

Although atomic clusters are generally different from bulk material in terms of their structure, they can initiate (nano)crystal formation. For ZnO, tetrapod-like nanostructures are well known; however, their nucleation model is still questionable. In this report, ZnO magic clusters were considered as seeds for the nucleation of tetrapods; these clusters were characterized via mass spectroscopy and were attributed to a series of nested shell clusters via quantum chemical calculations. Herein, these clusters were constructed as nested Goldberg polyhedra and subjected to Jahn-Teller distortion.