Superatoms

Clusters of atoms can behave like single atoms of some other element. It seems they can get together and share their outer electrons in a kind of gel, and behave like a single unit.

This simple picture was thrown into disarray in the early 1980s, when evidence started appearing that clusters of atoms of one element could behave like another. Thomas Upton at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena discovered that clusters of six aluminium atoms could catalyse the splitting of hydrogen molecules in much the same way as ruthenium, a metal used as a catalyst in the chemical industry. This quickly led to thoughts of extending the periodic table.

Now, a theory has been developed, and it's being tested. So far, it works pretty well. But how useful is it?

Being able to substitute aluminum, a cheap element, for ruthenium, an expensive one, could be pretty darn useful. If aluminum can pinch hit for other rare earth elements in catalysts, that could also be quite useful. In addition:

One answer is that superatoms could provide entirely new types of material, including "expanded" crystals. <snip> Expanded crystals could have useful properties....Shiv Khanna, a physicist at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond who works with Castleman, hopes that replacing iodine in conducting polymers with aluminium superatoms could improve their conductivity. <snip> Another of the hopes for superatoms is that they could be used to disguise an element's normal chemistry.

And chances are, someone will come up with uses that no one is even dreaming of right now.