Theoretical Study of Geometric Structures for Ground-state Al_nC(n=2-7) Clusters

With the aid of the molecular orbital DMol3 program,the energetics and electronic structures of several AlnC（n = 2-7） configurations have been searched and calculated by improved minimum energy paths（MEPs） by setting ＂imaging product＂.A new high symmetry,supervalence isomer of Al5C cluster,i.e.,D5h-Al5C,at the local minimum in the MEPs is detected.Several parameters,such as binding energy,HOMO-LUMO energy gap,vertical electron detachment energy and electron affinity energy,are calculated to characterize and evaluate the stability of three Al5C configurations,i.e.,D5h-Al5C,Cs-Al5C and C1-Al5C.The results show that the D5h-Al5C cluster is the ground state structure instead of Cs-Al5C.Due to the formation of many central σ bonds after polymerizing for D5h-Al5C,the decrease of the energy for HOMO orbit results in more territory for HOMO electrons of dislocation effect,then the energy difference between HOMO and LUMO is increasing to enhance the stability of molecules to produce such supervalence structure of Al5C cluster.The configuration evolution between D5h-Al5C,Cs-Al5C and C1-Al5C and the synthesis preference in the mode of Al5 ＋ C → Al5C reveals that the Cs-Al5C and C1-Al5C con-figurations are permissive to coexist with D5h-Al5C structure in energetics.

Probing Structure, Thermochemistry, Electron Affinity and Magnetic Moment of Dysprosium-doped Silicon Clusters DySi_n(n = 3～10) and Their Anions with Double-hybrid Density Functional Theory

The equilibrium geometries, electronic structures and electronic properties including adiabatic electron affinity（AEA）, vertical detachment energy（VDE）, simulated photoelectron spectroscopy, HOMO-LUMO gap, charge transfer, and magnetic moment for DySi_n（n = 3~10） clusters and their anions were systematically investigated by using the ABCluster global search technique combined with the B3 LYP and B2 PLYP density functional methods. The results showed that the lowest energy structure of neutral DySi_n（n = 3~10） can be regarded as substituting a Si atom of the ground state structure of Si_（n＋1） with a Dy atom. For anions, the extra electron effect on the structure is significant. Starting from n = 6, the lowest energy structures of DySi_n~？（n = 3~10） differ from those of neutral. The ground state is quintuplet electronic state for DySi_n（n = 3~10） excluding DySi_4 and DySi_9, which is a septet electronic state. For anions, the ground state is a sextuplet electronic state. The reliable AEA and VDE of DySi_n（n = 3~10） are reported. Analyses of HOMO-LUMO gaps indicated that doping Dy atom to silicon clusters can improve significantly their photochemical reactivity, especially for DySi_9. Analyses of NPA revealed that the 4 f electrons of Dy in DySi_4, DySi_9, and DySi_n~？ with n = 4 and 6~10 participate in bonding. That is, DySi_nbelongs to the AB type. The 4 f electrons of Dy atom provide substantially the total magnetic moments for DySi_n and their anions. The dissociation energies of Ln（Ln = Pr, Sm, Eu, Gd, Ho, and Dy） fromLn Sin and their anions were evaluated to examine the relative stabilities.

Quantum Chemical Study of CnAl2^± （n=1～10） Clusters： Structure and Stability

Geometries, electronic structures and vibrational frequencies of CnAl2± clusters have been investigated by using the B3LYP-DFT method in the range of n = 1～10. At the B3LYP/6-311G level, the ground state structures of CnAl2± clusters are planar or linear with terminal aluminum atom. In these structures, the C-C bonds are alternately changed between double and triple. The changing magnitude of the averaged bond length decreases with the increase of cluster size. The energetic analysis showed that CnAl2± clusters with even n are more stable than those with odd n.

Classification of VxOy^q Clusters by △=2y＋q-5x

Vanadium oxide clusters VxOy^q（x≤8, q=0, ±1） are classified according to the oxidation index （△=2y＋q-5x） of each cluster. Density functional calculations indicate that clusters with the same oxidation index tend to have similar bonding characters, electronic structures, and reactivities. This general rule leads to the findings of new possible ground state struc- tures for V206 and V3O6＋ clusters. This successful application of the classification method on vanadium oxide clusters proves that this method is very effective in studying the bonding properties of early transition metal oxide clusters.

Density functional investigation on structural and electronic properties of small bimetallic Pb_(n)Ag_(n)(n=2–12)clusters

Structural and electronic properties of PbnAgn(n=2–12)clusters were investigated by density functional theory with generalized gradient approximation at BLYP level in DMol3 program package.The optimized bimetallic PbnAgn(n=2–12)clusters were viewed as the initial structures,then,those were calculated by ab initio molecular dynamics(AIMD)to search possible global minimum energy structures of PbnAgn clusters,finally,the ground state structures of PbnAgn(n=2–12)clusters were achieved.According to the structural evolution of lowest energy structures,Ag atoms prefer gather in the central sites while Pb atoms prefer external positions in PbnAgn(n=2–12)clusters,which is in excellent agreement with experimental results from literature and the application in metallurgy.The average binding energies,HOMO-LUMO gaps,vertical ionization potentials,vertical electron affinities,chemical hardnessη,HOMO orbits,LUMO orbits and density of states of PbnAgn(n=2–12)clusters were calculated.The results indicate that the values of HOMO-LUMO gaps,vertical ionization potentials,vertical electron affinities and chemical hardnessηshow obvious odd-even oscillations when n≤5,PbnAgn(n=2–12)clusters become less chemically stable and show insulator-to-metal transition with the variation of cluster size n,PbnAgn(n≥9)cluster are good candidates to study the properties of PbAg alloys.Those can be well explained by the density of states(DOS)distributions of Pb atoms and Ag atoms between–0.5 Ha and 0.25 Ha in PbnAgn(n=2–12)clusters.

Quantum Chemical Study on the Structural Characteristics and Stability of AlS_n~± Clusters

The geometric configurations and electronic structures of AlSn ±（n = 1~10） clusters were studied by the B3LYP（DFT） method at the 6-311G＊＊ level. The changing rules of the ground state structure features, charge transfer and bonding characteristics of the aluminum-sulfur doped clusters were discussed in detail. The ground states of AlSn ±（n 〉 2） are all AlcoreSshell planar or solid double ring structures formed by inserting one Al atom to the Sm and Sn-m（m

Density functional theory study on Ni-doped Mg_n Ni(n=17) clusters

The possible geometrical and the electronic structures of small MgnNi （n = 1 - 7） clusters are optimised by the density functional theory with a LANL2DZ basis set. The binding energy, the energy gap, the electron affinity, the dissociation energy and the second difference in energy are calculated and discussed. The properties of MgnNi clusters are also discussed when the number of Mg atom increases.

<i>Ab-Initio</i>Self-Consistent Density Functional Theory Description of Rock-Salt Magnesium Selenide (MgSe)

We report results on electronic, transport, and bulk properties of rock-salt magnesium selenide (MgSe), from density functional theory (DFT) calculations. We utilized a local density approximation (LDA) potential and the linear combination of atomic orbitals formalism (LCAO). We followed the Bagayoko, Zhao, and Williams (BZW) method, as enhanced by Ekuma and Franklin (BZW-EF), to perform a generalized minimization of the energy, down to the actual ground state of the material. We describe the successive, self-consistent calculations, with augmented basis sets, that are needed for this generalized minimization. Due to the generalized minimization, our results have the full, physical content of DFT, as per the second DFT theorem [AIP Advances, 4, 127104 (2014)]. Our calculated, indirect bandgap of 2.49 eV, for a room temperature lattice constant of 5.460 Å, agrees with experimental findings. We present the ground-state band structure, the related total and partial densities of states, DOS and PDOS, respectively, and electron and hole effective masses for the material. Our calculated bulk modulus of 63.1 GPa is in excellent agreement with the experimental value of 62.8 ± 1.6 GPa. Our predicted equilibrium lattice constant, at zero temperature, is 5.424 Å, with a corresponding indirect bandgap of 2.51 eV. We discuss the reasons for the agreements between our findings and available, corresponding, experimental ones, particularly for the band gap, unlike the previous DFT results obtained with ab-initio LDA or GGA potentials.

Structural and Electronic Properties of Lutetium Doped Germanium Clusters LuGen^((+/0/-))(n=6~19):A Density Functional Theory Investigation

Structural growth mechanism,energetics,and electronic properties of cationic,neutral,and anionic lutetium doped germanium cluster LuGen^((+/0/-))(n=6~19)were comprehensively studied by the ABCluster unbiased global search technique with a hybrid density functional theory approach.Compared to the experimental PES,the anion evolution of structure can be clearly defined as four-phase:from the adsorbed to the link structure,then to the half cage motif,and finally to the endohedral structure.The results revealed that the LuGe16-as Frank-Kasper structure with high symmetry of Td can greatly enhance the stabilities.Doped structures have shown thermodynamic stability and appropriate energy gap.These materials are suitable semiconductors.Various approaches,including quasi-spherical geometry with closed-shell model,aromaticity,UV-Vis spectra,density of states(DOS)and partial density of states(PDOS)were applied to further support the results.