Behavior of Silicon and Germanium Clusters on a C60 Fullerene

Geometric and Electronic Properties of P Atom-Doped Al Nanoclusters: Alkaline-like Superatom of P@Al12

The geometric and electronic characteristics of phosphorus-atom doped aluminum nanoclusters, AlnPm (n = 7-17, m = 1 and 2), were investigated through a combination of experiments and theoretical calculations. The size dependences of the ionization energy (Ei) for AlnPm NCs exhibit a local minimum of 5.37 eV at Al12P1, attributed to an endohedral P@Al12 superatom (SA). This SA originates from an excess electron toward the 2P shell closing (40e), coexisting with an exohedral isomer featuring a vertex P atom. The stability of the endohedral P@Al12 is further enhanced in its cationic state compared to the exohedral isomer, when complexed with a fluorine (F) atom, forming an SA salt denoted as P@Al12+F- with an elevated Ei ranging from 6.42 to 7.90 eV. In contrast, for the anionic Al12P1-, the exohedral form is found to be more stable than the endohedral one using anion photoelectron spectroscopy and calculations. The geometric and electronic robustness of neutral P@Al12 SAs against electron donation and acceptance is discussed in comparison to rare-gas-like Si@Al12 SAs.

Interaction of C(59)Si with Si based clusters: a study of Janus nanostructures

Using density functional theory with the generalized gradient approximation (GGA), we show that carbon-silicon Janus anisotropic nanostructures can be synthesized by using C(59)Si heterofullerene as a seed where the doped Si atom preferentially attaches to some well-known silicon and silicon based clusters such as Si(10), WSi(12), TiSi(16), and BaSi(20). The interaction energy of these clusters with C(59)Si varies from 0.9 to 1.9 eV. The anisotropy of the resulting carbon-silicon Janus structures produces large dipole moments (4-9 D), anisotropic distributions of electronic orbitals, and the anisotropic reactivity.

Stabilization of Si60 cage structure

A comprehensive search for the stable geometries of bare Si60 and Si60 supported on a C60 fullerene was carried out using first principles calculations based on density functional theory. In contrast to previous theoretical studies and in agreement with recent experiments, we show that Si60 and C(60)@Si(60) clusters are unstable in the fullerenelike cage structure. However, Si60 cage can be stabilized by including within it, as endohedral units, small magic clusters such as Al12X (X=Si, Ge, Sn, Pb) and Ba@Si(20).