| Abstract: | The electronic structure of Ti8C12 clusters with three possible geometric structures suggested in the literature is studied using the discrete-variational local-density-functional method. The results show that the ground states of the clusters are all degenerate, which means further Jahn-Teller distortions for the geometric structures of clusters. The results also indicate that the distorted dodecahedral Ti8C12 cluster, which is proposed by Guo et al. and optimized by the first principle calculations, is the most stable one among the clusters we considered and its electronic structure can explain the experimental observations. In this cluster, there is a strong pd bonding between Ti and C atoms, and the density of states at the Fermi energy is high. |
