Core binding energies for clusters deposited on different insulating substrates: esca spectra and theoretical electronic structure studies

The 4f core-level X-ray photoemission of small Pt clusters deposited on Teflon and SiO₂ substrates has been investigated. The experimental results are discussed and related to other data reported in the literature. Parallel results are presented for ab initio selfconsistent field, SCF, calculations of the core ionization potentials, IPs, of small Li clusters. These model calculations provide qualitative information about the nature and magnitude of the initial and final state contributions to the IPs for small clusters. We find that the binding energy shifts and linewidth broadening depend primarily on the cluster size and on the cluster substrate interaction. They do not result from electrostatic effects of the unit positive charge remaining on the ionized cluster. Our calculations show that this Coulomb effect does not apply to very small clusters.