論文の公開元へStructures and stability of metal-carbon/silicon binary clusters
概要
Metallic and covalent clusters have gathered much attention as potential candidates of key elements of functional materials due to their inherent robustness and size-specific novel properties. Experimental and theoretical studies have revealed that the stabilities of clusters of simple metals (Na, Al) and coinage metals (Au, Ag, and Cu) originate from the closure of the electronic shells.[1] For example, the well-known magic clusters such as icosahedral Al13– and pyramidal Au20 have closed electronic structures with 40 and 20 valence electrons, respectively.[2,3] In contrast, the stabilities of the covalent clusters such as C60 and Si6,7,10 are governed by geometric structures due to the directional nature of bonding interaction between the constituent atoms.[4,5] However, our understanding of the structures and stabilities of their mixed clusters has been limited to systems with highly biased compositions such as Al7C1– and M1Si16 (M = Sc, Ti, and V).[6,7] In this study, I investigated stabilities and structures of aluminum carbide and gold silicide clusters of wider compositions using mass spectrometry, photoelectron spectroscopy and density functional theory calculations with an aim of searching for new stable building units in the nanoscale.
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