Experimental dissociation energies of metal cluster dications and their interpretation in a liquid-drop model with empirical corrections

The dissociation energies of doubly charged silver cluster ions in the size range $9<~n<~25$ are measured by multiple collision induced dissociation. They are compared to the dissociation energies of singly charged clusters. To this end, the latter are used to calculate shell corrections in a macroscopic-microscopic model. Good agreement between the resulting predictions of the dissociation energies of the doubly charged systems and the experimental values is found, which indicates the strong influence of electronic effects on the stability of small silver clusters.