XPS study of bonding in ligated Au clusters

Ligated metal cluster compounds containing a core of metal atoms with well defined structure surrounded by a variety of organic and inorganic ligands are closely related to the bare metal clusters that are only now becoming available in uniform cluster size. The evolution of band structure and the development of metallic properties as a function of cluster size are of considerable interest. We report here a comparison of these two types of systems based on a study by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The valence band spectra of ligated Au clusters compounds are similar in many respects to those of bare clusters, indicating significant participation of the d electrons in bonding. The core electron binding energy shifts of the central Au atom in Au₁₁(PPh₃)₇Cl₃ corresponds to the loss of approximation one 6 s electron. The total charge transferred to the halogens is accounted for by the shifts of the central and three halogenbonded Au atoms. No indication of metallic behaviour is found in the core of the ligated clusters.     

Shape dependence of optical properties of sodium clusters

We develop an analytical approach to calculate the aspect ratios of free alkali metal clusters using measured surface plasmon frequencies. The method is based on the concept of small deviations from a spherical shape and can be applied to clusters with spheroidal, icosahedral and other shapes. Results of experimental data as well as of numerical calculations for the surface plasmon resonance frequencies in small spheroidal sodium clusters containing less than 50 atoms are reproduced accurately through a quite simple formula which links the aspect ratio of the cluster to the observable surface plasmon frequencies. The developed approach allows also to reveal the dependence of the dielectric function of alkali metal on the number of atoms in the cluster.     

Formation and stability of high-spin alkali clusters

Helium nanodroplet isolation has been applied to agglomerate alkali clusters at temperatures of 380 mK. The very weak binding to the surface of the droplets allows a selection of only weakly bound, high-spin states. Here we show that larger clusters of alkali atoms in high-spin states can be formed. The lack of strong bonds from pairing electrons makes these systems nonmetallic, van der Waals-like complexes of metal atoms. We find that sodium and potassium readily form such clusters containing up to 25 atoms. In contrast, this process is suppressed for rubidium and cesium. Apparently, for these heavy alkalis, larger high-spin aggregates are not stable and depolarize spontaneously upon cluster formation.     

Defect studies in small CdTe clusters

We study Cd vacancy formation in prototype stoichiometric and non-stoichiometric CdTe clusters with and without passivation. For certain clusters like Cd₁₃Te₁₆, vacancy leads to severe distortion of the geometry due to propagation of defect. Annealing of the vacancy out of the cluster is observed in all unpassivated clusters. Passivated clusters retain their initial geometry and vacancy induced structural distortions are not seen in these clusters since the defect gets localized. Vacancy also induces intragap states. However, it was observed that the passivation of the dangling bonds created by the vacancy removes the intragap states. In an attempt to have CdTe clusters with extrinsic carriers, we substituted a Cd atom by its adjacent atoms Pd/Ag/In/Sn in these CdTe clusters. Substitutional doping of Cd by metal atoms increases the stability of unpassivated clusters. For certain clusters, metal atom doping leads to a half-metallic character. Pd/Ag-doped clusters are p-type semiconductors whereas In-doped clusters are n-type semiconductors. Sn doping in these clusters does not result in n-type semiconductors.     

Fluorinated ferromagnetic metal clusters and their superhalogen behaviour

Density functional theory calculations on the ground-state geometries and spin multiplicities of neutral and anionic ferromagnetic metal fluoride clusters, MF_n (M = Fe, Co and Ni; n = 1–7), have been performed. The results show that in the case of FeF_n and CoF_n clusters, a maximum of five F atoms can be bound atomically to metal atoms while four in the case of NiF_n. The remaining F atoms bind either very weakly or molecularly. The stabilities of all MF_n clusters are discussed by calculating dissociation energies to F atoms and F₂ molecules. We notice that the anionic species are relatively more stable than corresponding neutrals. The electron affinities of these clusters are very large, reaching values as high as 7.98 eV. Therefore, these clusters can be regarded as superhalogens.     

Impact of silicon dopant on the absorption and Raman spectroscopy of metal clusters with seven atoms

The structural, optical, and magnetic properties of silicon-doped copper, silver, and gold clusters with D_5h symmetry and seven atoms have been investigated using density functional theory calculations. The global optimized structures of silicon-doped metal clusters are predicted to have a higher HOMO–LUMO gap and higher binding energy than nondoped metal clusters, and nondoped metal clusters have a higher magnetic moment than silicon-doped metal clusters. The silicon doping in metal clusters changes absorption strength and range of absorption wavelength. The silicon dopant also provides a significant impact on the absorption and Raman spectroscopy of nondoped metal clusters. The Raman activities of silicon-doped and nondoped metal clusters are helpful in determining the size and structure of the experimental clusters.     

硅烯饱和吸附碱金属原子的第一性原理研究

基于密度泛函理论的第一性原理计算, 研究了硅烯饱和吸附碱金属元素原子的稳定性、微观几何结构和电子性质, 并与纯硅烯及其饱和氢化结构进行了对比分析. 研究发现复合物SiX(X=Li, Na, K, Rb)的形成能都是负的, 相对于纯硅烯来说可以稳定存在. Bader电荷分析表明, 电荷从碱金属原子转移至硅原子. 从成键方式来看, 硅烯与氢原子形成共价键, 而与碱金属原子之间形成的键主要是离子性成键, 但还存在部分共价关联成分. 能带计算表明, 锂原子饱和吸附在硅烯形成的复合物SiLi是直接带隙的半导体, 带隙大小为0.34 eV. 其他碱金属饱和吸附在硅烯上形成的复合物都表现为金属性.     

Construction and evaluation of embedding functions

Non-self-consistent density functional theories require specification of the embedding energy for an atom in a reference system. We combine the embedding energies determined from linear muffin tin orbital (LMTO) calculations of the bulk cohesive energy curves with those determined from the experimental diatomic binding curve. These new embedding functions contain information about the variation of binding with both coordination and separation between atomic centers. These are shown to be superior to embedding functions determined solely from bulk cohesive energy curves through tests on structures and energies of small metal clusters, self-diffusion of adatoms on metal surfaces, and scattering of metal atoms from metal surfaces.     

Structure determination of isolated metal clusters via far-infrared spectroscopy

We present a new method for the size selective structure determination of small isolated metal clusters in the gas phase. The technique is applied to cationic vanadium clusters containing 6 to 23 atoms, whose far infrared absorption spectra are measured in the 140-450 cm(-1) spectral range. The spectra are unique for each cluster size and are true fingerprints of the cluster's structure. By comparing the experimental spectra to spectra obtained from density-functional theory, the geometric cluster structure can be identified.     

QCT-based vibrational collisional models applied to nonequilibrium nozzle flows

We investigate from a theoretical perspective structure and dynamics of Na clusters on a surface built from Ar layers grown on a metal support. The system is modeled by a hierarchical quantum-mechanical/molecular-mechanical (QM/MM) approach treating the cluster electrons with time-dependent density-functional theory, the Ar atoms classically, and the metal support as a continuous dielectric medium. Caution has been taken to describe properly the dynamical polarizability of the Ar substrate. We study the effect of the Ar substrate and particularly of the metal support on the cluster structure and dynamics. The binding of Na₆ and Na₈ to the Ar surface is found to by very weak and the effect of the dielectric response of the metal (DRM) turns out to be negligible. The global properties of the optical response of the Na clusters are slightly changed by the Ar substrate and the DRM while the detailed spectral fragmentation depends sensitively on any change of the environment. The deposition dynamics of small Na clusters is crucially influenced by the mechanical hardness of the metal support while the DRM makes little effect. We also study the dependence on the number of Ar layers. For the first few layers (from two to four), the deposition dynamics changes dramatically with the number of layers. The results stabilize from six layers on upwards.     

二苯基硫脲的配位取代反应及其红外光谱表征

研究了二苯基硫脲分别与二十羧基三钌和十二羰基二铁的配位取代反应,红外光谱跟踪反应从开始到结束,谱图数据揭示出原始物消失和新物质的形成过程,并对产物Ru3(CO)9CSN2HPh2和Fe3(CO)sS2CNPh作了KBr压片红外光谱表征。     

Simulation of the first growth phase of single-walled carbon nanotubes using a model based on a cellular automaton

This paper presents a theoretical study on the first growth phase of single-walled carbon nanotubes. The model adopted is based on a cellular automaton containing as the elementary entities the metal particles and the carbon atoms. It uses an interaction based on phenomenological potentials to define the update function of the automaton. The purpose of this study is to establish the saturation condition of the metal particle with the carbon atoms when the formation of clusters of carbon begins. The results show that the first phase of formation of the carbon clusters can start with the particle partially saturated with carbon atoms.     

The insulator-metal transition in supported clusters

The size-dependent insulator-metal transition in supported metal clusters manifests itself as a deviation from inverse radius dependence of the core-electron binding energy. Data for mono- and polydisperse supported gold clusters give evidence that the transition to the metallic state occurs in clusters containing circa 100 atoms. Simple theoretical considerations account for this observation.     

On the decay of hot metallic clusters by evaporation

Starting from the Weisskopf theory decay rates for the evaporation of cluster atoms from hot liquid alkali metal clusters are derived. The crucial input quantity is the level density which is determined from empirical properties of the bulk, namely from the specific heat and the thermal expansion coefficient. The resulting rate expression is compared with decay rate formulas given by Engelking, Klots and Gspann. Furthermore, critical (appearance) sizes of multiply charged clusters are calculated by equating the rates for neutral monomer and light charged particle emission. Also shrinking and cooling rates of large hot clusters are determined by treating multiple emission of cluster atoms, thus establishing a time scale for the decay of clusters theoretically.     

How can we make stable linear monoatomic chains? Gold-cesium binary subnanowires as an example of a charge-transfer-driven approach to alloying

On the basis of first-principles calculations of clusters and one dimensional infinitely long subnanowires of the binary systems, we find that alkali-noble metal alloy wires show better linearity and stability than either pure alkali metal or noble metal wires. The enhanced alternating charge buildup on atoms by charge transfer helps the atoms line up straight. The cesium doped gold wires showing significant charge transfer from cesium to gold can be stabilized as linear or circular monoatomic chains.     

The Electronic and Magnetic Properties of FCC Iron Clusters in FCC 4D Metals

The electronic and magnetic structures of small FCC iron clusters in FCC Rh, Pd and Ag were calculated using the discrete variational method as a function of cluster size and lattice relaxation. It was found that unrelaxed iron clusters, remain ferromagnetic as the cluster sizes increase, while for relaxed clusters antiferromagnetism develops as the size increases depending on the host metal. For iron in Rh the magnetic structure changes from ferromagnetic to antiferromagnetic for clusters as small as 13 Fe atoms, whereas for Fe in Ag antiferromagnetism is exhibited for clusters of 24 Fe atoms. On the hand, for Fe in Pd the transition from ferromagnetism to antiferromagnetism occurs for clusters as large as 42 Fe atoms. The difference in the magnetic trends of these Fe clusters is related to the electronic properties of the underlying metallic matrix. The local d densities of states, the magnetic moments and hyperfine parameters are calculated in the ferromagnetic and the antiferromagnetic regions. In addition, the average local moment in iron-palladium alloys is calculated and compared to experimental results.     

CNDO calculations of nickel atom clusters

CNDO molecular orbital calculations for nickel atom clusters containing from one to thirteen atoms in various geometric arrangements are presented. The parameters were selected so that an octahedral Ni₆ cluster had an equilibrium inter-nuclear distance, d band occupancy, binding energy, Fermi level, and d band width approximating those of bulk nickel. For clusters with a given number of atoms the stability always increased in the order linear < planar < three-dimensional cluster. The general assumption that the binding energy per atom in metal clusters is proportional to the number of nearest neighbours is supported by these CNDO calculations although this relation is certainly not exact for small clusters. Examination of the calculated orbitals does not indicate a separation of the d band into one part made up from atomic t_2g orbitals and another from e_g orbitals. Overall the CNDO method appears to present a reasonable approach to calculating properties of small metal clusters.     

Configurational transitions in processes involving metal clusters

We define the configurational state of an atomic system, e.g. a cluster of metal atoms, in terms of the nuclear coordinates of a specific local minimum of the potential energy surface (PES). Three types of configurational transitions are reviewed: chemical reactions, phase transitions in clusters and catalytic chemical processes involving clusters as catalysts. The analysis of the first two cases shows that although vibrational degrees of freedom of nuclei and configurational degrees of freedom are separable in lowest order, thermal motion of nuclei nevertheless influences the rate of a configurational transition. Therefore the height of the barrier that separates configurational states of the transition for the PES differs from the effective activation energy for this transition. For example, ignoring the thermal motion of atoms in Lennard-Jones clusters leads to a predicted value of their melting points twice which accounts for the thermal motion of atoms. Hence, in determining parameters governing configurational transitions, evaluation of the PES parameters, say, within the framework of DFT (density functional theory) must be augmented by information from molecular dynamics or some other method that accounts for nuclear motion.