A Keplerian Ag90 nest of Platonic and Archimedean polyhedra in different symmetry groups

Abstract

Nested polyhedra are compelling but incredibly complex synthetic targets in cluster chemistry. Here, the authors synthesize a Ag90 nanocluster comprising three concentric polyhedra with apparently incompatible octahedral (Oh) and icosahedral (Ih) symmetry, a mathematical oddity that is solved by the shells’ symmetric arrangement around rotational 2- and 3-fold axes.