Fragmentation Behavior and Ionization Potentials of Aluminum Clusters Al_n(n≤40)

Al2-Al40 clusters were studied by means of the all-electron DFT method. The properties of the aluminum clusters including binding energy, the second difference in energy, HOMO-LUMO gap, especially fragmentation energies and ionization potentials, were analyzed. The main products from the dissociations of aluminum cluster ions are shown to be Al ＋ Al^＋n-1 for the larger clusters, and Al^＋ ＋Aln-1 for the smaller ones. And, the calculated ionization potentials are consistent with the experiment data.

A First-principles Calculation of Structures and Stability of Al_(13)I Cluster

Using first-principles pseudo-potential plane wave method, the energetics, geometrical and electronic structures of three Al13I cluster isomers were calculated. The calculation results of the binding energy indicate Al13I cluster is more stable than Al13 cluster although its electrons are not a magic number as in Alia cluster, and among Al13I cluster isomers the ＂Bridge＂ structure is the most stable, the second is the ＂Ontop＂ structure, and the worst is the ＂Hollow＂ structure. By analyzing the geometrical structures of Al13I cluster isomers, it is found that after I atom and Al13 cluster combine the geometrical structures of Al13 moieties are changed besides Al13I Hollow cluster, in which the Alia moiety is still a regular icosahedron. For Al13I Ontop cluster, the Al13 moiety has a shrinking trend to I, whereas in Al13I Bridge cluster it is distorted. Mulliken population analysis shows for the interaction of electrons between Al-I atoms in Al13I cluster not only there exists an ionic bonding but there is a covalent bonding. Part of electrons in the Alia cluster transfer to I as Al13 cluster and I atom combine. The order of the strength of covalent bonding between Al13 moiety and I in Al13I cluster isomers is Al13IBridge〉Al13IHollow〉Al13I Ontop. Further analysis of electric structures of Al13 and Al13I clusters indicates a higher stability of Al13I cluster than Al13 cluster can be attributed to the s-p hybridization of 3s and 3p electrons of Al in Al13 moiety induced by 1 doped, which leads to fewer electrons N（EF） at EF in Al13I and a larger energy gap △EH-L between HOMO and LUMO levels in Al13I cluster. The distinguish of structural stability of Al13I cluster isomers mainly originates from their different magnitudes .in decrease of N（EF） and increase of △EH-L relative to Al13 cluster. The fewest N（EF） and the largest △EH-L are responsible for the high stability of Al13I Bridge cluster.

Efficiently Adsorbing CO Molecules Using Al_6Si Cluster

Based on the density functional theory with generalized gradient approximation, the stable geometrical structures of one or more CO molecules adsorbed on the Al6Si cluster are investigated and the corresponding adsorption energies are also calculated. It is found that the cluster Al6Si can adsorb six CO molecules. The thermal stability of the（CO）6@Al6Si complexes is examined using the atom centered density matrix propagation molecular dynamics calculations at 373 K. The results show that two isomers of Al6Si cluster can solidly adsorb six CO molecules, and the other isomer adsorbs four ones. Therefore, the Al6Si cluster is a promising candidate for eliminating CO effectively.

Electronic Structure Effect on Model Cluster for L1_2 Structure of Al_3Ti Intermetallic Compound with an Addition of Alloying Elements Fe, Ni and Cu

By use of self-consistent field Xα scattered-wave (SCF-Xα-SW) method, the electronic structure was calculated for four models of Ti4Al14X (X=Al, Fe, Ni and Cu) clusters. The Ti4Al14X cluster was developed based on L12 Al3Ti-base intermetallic compound. The results are presented using the density of states (DOS) and one-electron properties, such as relative binding tendency between the atom and the model cluster, and hybrid bonding tendency between the alloying element and the host atoms. By comparing the four models of Ti4Al14X cluster, the effect of the Fe, Ni or Cu atom on the physical properties of Al3Ti-based L12 intermetallic compounds is analyzed. The results indicate that the addition of the Fe, Ni or Cu atom intensifies the relative binding tendency between Ti atom and Ti4Al14X cluster. It was found that the Fermi level (EF) lies in a maximum in the DOS for Ti4Al14Al cluster; on the contrary, the EF comes near a minimum tn the DOS for Ti4Al14X (X=Fe, Ni and Cu) cluster. Thus the L12 crystal structure for binary Al3Ti alloy is unstable, and the addition of the Fe, Ni or Cu atom to Al3Ti is benefical to stabilize L12 crystal structure. The calculation also shows that the Fe, Ni or Cu atom strengthens the hybrid bonding tendency between the central atom and the host atoms for Ti4Al14X cluster and thereby may lead to the constriction of the lattice of Al3Ti-base intermetallic compounds.

Chlorine-passivated superatom Al37clusters for nonlinear optics

Utilizing a facile top-down synthetic procedure, here we report the finding of a chlorine-passivated Al_(37) superatom cluster. It is demonstrated that the presence of electrophilic groups, severing as protecting ligands, alters the valence electron count of the metallic core and stabilize the as-prepared aluminum clusters especially when even-numbered chlorine atoms are located at equilibrium positions. Following the discussion regarding their reasonable stabilities, we illustrate the feasible reaction pathways in forming such chlorine-passivated Al_(37) superatom clusters which bear delocalized superatomic orbitals with five valence 3P^5 electrons shifting to the chlorine ligands indicative of a closed electron shell 2F^(14) of the metal core. The successful synthesis of such chlorine-protected aluminum clusters evidences the compatibility of general theory of cluster chemistry in both gas phase and wet chemistry. Such simple-ligand-protected aluminum clusters exhibit reverse-saturated-absorption(RSA) nonlinear optical property pertaining to electronic transitions within the discrete energy states of cluster materials.

Simulating orthokinetic heterocoagulation and cluster growth in destabilizing suspensions

Using direct numerical simulation, we investigate the coagulation behavior of non-Brownian colloidal particles as exemplified by Al2O3 particles. This yields the so-called capture efficiency, for which we give an analytical expression, as well as other time-dependent variables such as the cluster growth rate. Instead of neglecting or strongly approximating the hydrodynamic interactions between particles, we include hydrodynamic and non-hydrodynamic interactions in a Stokesian dynamics approach and a comprehensive modeling of the interparticle forces. The resulting parallelized simulation framework enables us to investigate the dynamics of polydisperse particle systems composed of several hundred particles at the same high level of modeling we used for a close investigation of the coagulation behavior of two unequal particles in shear flow. Appropriate cluster detection yields all the information about large destabilizing systems, which is needed for models used in flow-sheet simulations. After non-dimensionalization, the results can be generalized and applied to other systems tending to secondary coagulation