The structures,thermochemistry, and electron affinities of hydrogenated silicon clusters Si6Hn/Si6H (n = 3–14)

The hydrogenated silicon clusters structures, electron affinities, and dissociation energies of the Si₆H_n/Si₆H (n = 3?14) species have been systematically investigated by means of three density functional theory (DFT) methods. The basis set used in this work is of double‐ζ plus polarization quality with additional diffuse s‐ and p‐type functions, denoted DZP++. The geometries are fully optimized with each DFT method independently. Three different types of energy separations presented in this work are the adiabatic electron affinity (EA_ad), the vertical electron affinity (EA_vert), and the vertical detachment energy (VDE). The first Si? H dissociation energies D_e (Si₆H_n→ Si₆H_n?1+H) for the neutral Si₆H_n and D_e (Si₆H→Si₆H+H) for the anionic Si₆H species have also been reported. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2009