Global optimization of bimetallic cluster structures. I. Size-mismatched Ag-Cu, Ag-Ni, and Au-Cu systems

A genetic algorithm approach is applied to the optimization of the potential energy of a wide range of binary metallic nanoclusters, Ag-Cu, Ag-Ni, Au-Cu, Ag-Pd, Ag-Au, and Pd-Pt, modeled by a semiempirical potential. The aim of this work is to single out the driving forces that make different structural motifs the most favorable at different sizes and chemical compositions. Paper I is devoted to the analysis of size-mismatched systems, namely, Ag-Cu, Ag-Ni, and Au-Cu clusters. In Ag-Cu and Ag-Ni clusters, the large size mismatch and the tendency of Ag to segregate at the surface of Cu and Ni lead to the location of core-shell polyicosahedral minimum structures. Particularly stable polyicosahedral clusters are located at size N = 34 (at the composition with 27 Ag atoms) and N = 38 (at the composition with 32 and 30 Ag atoms). In Ag-Ni clusters, Ag32Ni13 is also shown to be a good energetic configuration. For Au-Cu clusters, these core-shell polyicosahedra are less common, because size mismatch is not reinforced by a strong tendency to segregation of Au at the surface of Cu, and Au atoms are not well accommodated upon the strained polyicosahedral surface.     

Determination of structures, stabilities, and electronic properties for bimetallic cesium-doped gold clusters: a density functional theory study

The equilibrium geometric structures, stabilities, and electronic properties of bimetallic Au(n)Cs (n = 1-10) and pure gold Au(n) (n ≤ 11) clusters have been systematically investigated by using density functional theory with meta-generalized gradient approximation. The optimized geometries show that one Au atom capped on Au(n-1)Cs structures and Cs atom capped Au(n) structures for different sized Au(n)Cs (n = 1-10) clusters are two dominant growth patterns. Theoretical calculated results indicate that the most stable isomers have three-dimensional structures at n = 4 and 6-10. Averaged atomic binding energies, fragmentation energies, and second-order difference of energies exhibit a pronounced even-odd alternations phenomenon. The same even-odd alternations are found in the highest occupied-lowest unoccupied molecular orbital gaps, vertical ionization potential, vertical electron affinity, and hardnesses. In addition, it is found that the charge in corresponding Au(n)Cs clusters transfers from the Cs atom to the Au(n) host in the range of 0.851-1.036 electrons.     

Nucleation,growth, and fractal dimensions of icosahedral and polyicosahedral clusters

In this paper, the concept offractal geometry was applied to the growth of icosahedral and polyicosahedral clusters. Fractal dimensions were calculated for high-frequency icosahedral casters, vertex-sharing polyicosahedral clusters, and linked polyicosahedral clusters. These cluster growth pathways were compared with the fractal growth mechanisms of colloidal particles. Close similarities were found despite the tremendous differences in particle sizes and the forces governing their nucleation and growth processes.Dedicated to Prof. Lawrence F. Dahl on his 65th birthday; based in part on a lecture presented by BKT at the Dahl symposium held at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin on September 17, 1994.     

Anisotropy effect on global minimum structures of clusters: two-center Lennard-Jones model

Using a two-center Lennard-Jones (2CLJ) model, the simplest anisotropic case, we investigated how anisotropy affects global minimum structures of clusters and obtained some interesting results. The anisotropy parameter, R, is defined as the ratio of the bond length of 2CLJ dimer to the LJ equilibrium pair separation, where a larger R value means higher anisotropy. For low R values, the structures resemble those of the Lennard-Jones atomic clusters. However, as the pairwise interaction becomes more anisotropic, the "magic numbers" change, and several novel cluster patterns emerge as particularly stable structures, and the global minima change from icosahedral, to polyicosahedral and to novel irregular structures. Moreover, increasing the anisotropy effectively softens the 2CLJ potential. Given the general importance of the LJ cluster as a simple model cluster, 2CLJ model can provide a straightforward and useful analysis of the effect of molecular shape on the structures of clusters.     

Geometric, electronic, and bonding properties of AuNM (N = 1-7, M = Ni, Pd, Pt) clusters

Employing first-principles methods, based on density functional theory, we report the ground state geometric and electronic structures of gold clusters doped with platinum group atoms, Au(N)M (N = 1-7, M = Ni, Pd, Pt). The stability and electronic properties of Ni-doped gold clusters are similar to that of pure gold clusters with an enhancement of bond strength. Due to the strong d-d or s-d interplay between impurities and gold atoms originating in the relativistic effects and unique properties of dopant delocalized s-electrons in Pd- and Pt-doped gold clusters, the dopant atoms markedly change the geometric and electronic properties of gold clusters, and stronger bond energies are found in Pt-doped clusters. The Mulliken populations analysis of impurities and detailed decompositions of bond energies as well as a variety of density of states of the most stable dopant gold clusters are given to understand the different effects of individual dopant atom on bonding and electronic properties of dopant gold clusters. From the electronic properties of dopant gold clusters, the different chemical reactivity toward O(2), CO, or NO molecule is predicted in transition metal-doped gold clusters compared to pure gold clusters.     

Size- and shape-dependent polarizabilities of sandwich and rice-ball Co(n)Bz(m) clusters from density functional theory

The dipole polarizabilities of Co(n)Bz(m), (n, m = 1-4, m = n, n + 1) clusters are studied by means of an all-electron gradient-corrected density functional theory and finite field method. The dipole moments are relatively large for most of the clusters, implying their asymmetric structures. The total polarizability increases rapidly as cluster size, whereas the average polarizability shows "odd-even" oscillation with relatively large values at (n, n + 1). The polarizabilities exhibit clear shape-dependent variation, and the sandwich structures have systematically larger polarizability and anisotropy than the rice-ball isomers. The dipole polarizabilities are further analyzed in terms of the highest occupied molecular orbital-lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (HOMO-LUMO) gap, ionization potential, and electron delocalization volume. We conclude that the polarizability variations are determined by the interplay between the geometrical and electronic properties of the clusters.     

InAs管状团簇及单壁InAs纳米管的结构、稳定性和电子性质

采用密度泛函理论研究了InnAsn (n≤90)管状团簇以及单壁InAs纳米管的几何结构、稳定性和电子性质. 小团簇InnAsn (n=1-3)基态结构和电子性质的计算结果与已有报道相一致. 当n≥4时优化得到了一族稳定的管状团簇, 其结构基元(In原子与As原子交替排列的四元环和六元环结构)满足共同的衍化通式. 团簇的平均结合能表明横截面为八个原子的管状团簇稳定性最好. 管状团簇前线轨道随尺寸的变化规律有效地解释了一维稳定管状团簇的生长原因, 同时也说明了实验上之所以能合成InAs纳米管的微观机理. 此外, 研究结果表明通过管状团簇的有效组装可得到宽带隙的InAs半导体单壁纳米管.     

Structures and relative stability of medium-sized silicon clusters. V. Low-lying endohedral fullerenelike clusters Si31-Si40 and Si45

We have performed unconstrained search for low-lying structures of medium-sized silicon clusters Si(31)-Si(40) and Si(45), by means of the minimum-hopping global optimization method coupled with a density-functional based tight-binding model of silicon. Subsequent geometric optimization by using density-functional theory with the PBE, BLYP, and B3LYP functionals was carried out to determine the relative stability of various candidate low-lying silicon clusters obtained from the unconstrained search. The low-lying characteristics of these clusters can be affirmed by comparing the binding energies per atom of these clusters with previously determined lowest-energy clusters(Si(n)) in the size range of 21相似文献   

Geometric and electronic structure of clusters

The interplay between electronic and geometric structure is investigated for covalently bonded phosphorus clusters. We use a modification of the molecular dynamics/ density functional (MD/DF) method of Car and Parrinello, describing the electronic structure by a simplified linear combination of atomic orbitals (LCAO) approach. The results show clearly the tendency of phosphorus to threefold coordination, and substantial variations in bond angles lead to a large variety of isomers.     

Oxidation Effects on the Electronic Properties of Hydrogenated Silicon Clusters

The geometric and electronic properties of some hydrogenated silicon clusters in the presence of oxygen on the surface have been investigated.The density functional theory with generalized gradient approximation functional was applied in our calculations.By calculating the total energy,the double bond Si=O is shown to be more stable than the bridge bond Si-O-Si for large size oxidized clusters.The results of Mulliken population analysis indicate that a so-called passivation effect is enhanced by oxidization effects.From the energy band structures and density of states,we find that some localized states are induced by the p-orbital of O atom mainly and reduce the energy gaps substantially.     

Molecular dynamics simulations of self-organized polyicosahedral Si nanowire

A novel polyicosahedral nanowire is spontaneously formed in a series of annealing molecular dynamics simulations of liquid Si inside a nanopore of 1.36 nm in diameter. The polyicosahedral Si nanowire is stable even in a vacuum up to about 77% of the melting temperature of bulk Si. Our structural energy calculations reveal that the polyicosahedral nanowire is energetically advantageous over the pentagonal one for a wire whose diameter is less than 6.02 nm, though the latter has been recently proposed as the lowest energy wire. These results suggest the possibility of the formation of a new stable polyicosahedral Si nanowire.     

Structure and stability of Al-doped boron clusters by the density-functional theory

The geometries, stabilities, and electronic properties of Bn and AlBn clusters, up to n=12, have been systematically investigated by using the density-functional approach. The results of Bn clusters are in good agreement with previous conclusions. When the Al atom is doped in Bn clusters, the lowest-energy structures of the AlBn clusters favor two-dimensional and can be obtained by adding one Al atom on the peripheral site of the stable Bn when n相似文献   

Structure of phosphorus clusters by simulated annealing

The combination of density functional (DF) theory with molecular dynamics (MD) allows one to simulate dynamical processes in solids, clusters and molecules without requiring a parameterization of the forces in the system. The method can also be used with the strategy of “simulated annealing” to determine structural isomers. We demonstrate the capabilities of the scheme in the case of the structure of neutral and charged phosphorus clusters, and discuss relationship between these structures and those of bulk systems (crystalline and amorphous). The results show clearly the tendency of phosphorus structures to have threefold coordination as well as “tubular” structures similar to that found in Hittorf's phosphorus (H-P). We discuss the interplay between electronic and geometric structure.     

Monte Carlo temperature basin paving with effective fragment potential: an efficient and fast method for finding low-energy structures of water clusters (H2O)20 and (H2O)25

Determining low-energy structures of large water clusters is a challenge for any optimization algorithm. In this work, we have developed a new Monte Carlo (MC)-based method, temperature basin paving (TBP), which is related to the well-known basin hopping method. In the TBP method, the Boltzmann weight factor used in MC methods is dynamically modified based on the history of the simulation. The states that are visited more are given a lower probability by increasing their temperatures and vice versa. This allows faster escapes from the states frequently visited in the simulation. We have used the TBP method to find a large number of low-energy minima of water clusters of size 20 and 25. We have found structures energetically same to the global minimum structures known for these two clusters. We have compared the efficiency of this method to the basin-hopping method and found that it can locate the minima faster. Statistical efficiency of the new method has been investigated by running a large number of trajectories. The new method can locate low-energy structures of both the clusters faster than some of the reported algorithms for water clusters and can switch between high energy and low-energy structures multiple times in a simulation illustrating its efficiency. The large number of minima obtained from the simulations is used to get both general and specific features of the minima. The distribution of minima for these two clusters based on the similarity of their oxygen frames shows that the (H(2)O)(20) can have different variety of structures, but for (H(2)O)(25), low-energy structures are mostly cagelike. Several (H(2)O)(25) structures are found with similar energy but with different cage architectures. Noncage structures of (H(2)O)(25) are also found but they are 6-7 kcal/mol higher in energy from the global minimum. The TBP method is likely to play an important role for exploring the complex energy landscape of large molecules.     

FMBen(FM=Fe,Co, Ni; n=1-12)团簇结构和电子性质

采用密度泛函理论中的广义梯度近似对FMBen(FM=Fe, Co, Ni; n=1-12)团簇的几何构型进行优化, 并对能量、频率和磁性进行了计算, 同时考虑了电子的自旋多重度. 结果表明, 纯铍团簇的幻数是由电子的壳层模型确定, 而FMBen团簇的幻数主要由几何效应来解释; 掺杂铁磁性的过渡金属(Fe, Co, Ni)提高了纯团簇的稳定性. 二阶能量差分表明FMBen(FM=Fe, Co, Ni)的幻数分别为5, 10; 5, 10; 4, 10. 通过对磁性质的研究发现掺杂不同的过渡金属时, 磁矩出现了不同的变化规律.     

FMBen（FM=Fe,Co,Ni;n=1-12）团簇结构和电子性质

采用密度泛函理论中的广义梯度近似对FMBen(FM=Fe,Co,Ni;n=1-12)团簇的几何构型进行优化,并对能量、频率和磁性进行了计算,同时考虑了电子的自旋多重度.结果表明,纯铍团簇的幻数是由电子的壳层模型确定,而FMBen团簇的幻数主要由几何效应来解释;掺杂铁磁性的过渡金属(Fe,Co,Ni)提高了纯团簇的稳定性.二阶能量差分表明FMBen(FM=Fe,Co,Ni)的幻数分别为5,10;5,10;4,10.通过对磁性质的研究发现掺杂不同的过渡金属时,磁矩出现了不同的变化规律.     

Shape and symmetry of heptacoordinate transition-metal complexes: structural trends

The stereochemistries of heptacoordinate transition-metal complexes are analyzed by using continuous symmetry and shape measures of their coordination spheres. The distribution of heptacoordination through the transition-metal series is presented based on structural database searches including organometallic and Werner-type molecular complexes, metalloproteins, and extended solids. The most common polyhedron seems to be the pentagonal bipyramid, while different preferences are found for specific families of compounds, as in the complexes with three or four carbonyl or phosphine ligands, which prefer the capped octahedron or the capped trigonal prism rather than the pentagonal bipyramid. The symmetry maps for heptacoordination are presented and shown to be helpful for detecting stereochemical trends. The maximal symmetry interconversion pathways between the three most common polyhedra are defined in terms of symmetry constants and a large number of experimental structures are seen to fall along those paths.     

Specific heat and Lindemann-like parameter of metallic clusters: mono- and polyvalent metals

The Brownian-type molecular dynamics simulation is revisited and applied to study the thermal and geometric properties of four mono- and two polyvalent metallic clusters. For the thermal property, we report the specific heat at constant volume CV and study the solid-liquid-like transition by scrutinizing its characteristic. For the geometric property, we calculate the root mean square relative bond-length fluctuation delta as a function of increasing temperature. The thermal change in delta reflects the movement of atoms and hence is a relevant parameter in understanding the phase transition in clusters. The simulated results for the CV of alkali and aluminum clusters whose ground state structures exhibit icosahedral symmetry generally show one phase transition. In contrast, the tetravalent lead is quite often seen to exhibit two phase transitions, a premelting process followed by a progressive melting. In connection with the premelting scenario, it is found here that those (magic number) clusters identified to be of lesser stability (among other stable ones) according to the second energy difference are clusters showing a greater possibility of undergoing premelting process. This energy criterion applies to aluminum clusters nAl=28 and 38. To delve further into the thermal behavior of clusters, we have analyzed also the thermal variation of deltaT and attempted to correlate it with CV(T). It turns out that the premelting (if exist) and melting temperatures of the smaller size clusters (n less, similar 50) extracted from CV do not always agree quantitatively with that deduced from delta.     

Structure and stability of binary transition-metal clusters (NbCo)n (n < or = 5): a relativistic density-functional study

Equilibrium geometries and electronic properties of binary transition-metal clusters, (NbCo)n (n < or = 5), have been investigated by means of the relativistic density-functional approach. The metal-metal bonding and stability aspects of these clusters have been analyzed on the basis of calculations. Present results show that these clusters exhibit rich structural varieties on the potential-energy surfaces. The most stable structures have a compact conformation in relatively high symmetry, in which the Nb atoms prefer to form an inner core and Co atoms are capped to the facets of the core. Such building features in clustering of the Nb/Co system are related to the order of bond strength: Nb-Nb>Nb-Co>Co-Co. As the binary cluster size increases, the Nb-Co bond may become stronger than the Nb-Nb bond in the inner niobium core, which results in a remarkable increment of the Nb-Nb bond length. Amongst these binary transition-metal clusters, the singlet (NbCo)4 in T(d) symmetry has a striking high stability due to the presence of the spherical aromaticity and electronic shell closure. The size dependence of the bond length and stability of the cluster has been explored.     

Porous magnetic manganese oxide nanostructures: synthesis and their application in water treatment

Magnetic manganese oxide nanostructures are fabricated at room temperature by mixing a KMnO(4) solution and oleic acid capped Fe(3)O(4) particles. Oleic acid molecules capped Fe(3)O(4) particles are oxidized by potassium permanganate (KMnO(4)) in an aqueous solution to produce porous magnetic manganese oxide nanostructures. The synthesis technique can be extended to other MnO(x) structures with composition of different nanocrystals, such as quantum dots, noble metal crystals which may have important applications as catalysts, adsorbents, electrodes and advanced materials in many scientific disciplines. Transmission electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, X-ray powder diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and nitrogen adsorption-desorption measurements are employed to characterize the structures. As an adsorbent in water treatment, the nanostructures possess a large adsorption capability and high organic pollutant removal rates due to the large surface area and pore volume. The nanostructures are recyclable as their adsorption capability can be recovered by combustion. Furthermore, the strong magnetism exhibited by the structures provides an easy and efficient separation means in wastewater treatment under an external magnetic field.