Ai LY, Zhao HY, Ma HM, Wang J, Liu Y. Ti
12C
68: A stable T
h -symmetry hollow cage.
Sci Rep 2018;
8:4167. [PMID:
29520030 PMCID:
PMC5843587 DOI:
10.1038/s41598-018-22381-y]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/05/2017] [Accepted: 02/22/2018] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
A stable T h -symmetry Ti12C68 cage was systemically investigated using density functional theory. The structure of Ti12C68 is a hollow cage with twelve TiC13 subunit of three pentagons and one hexagon. The calculated frequencies are in the range 95.1 cm-1-1423.9 cm-1. There are no imaginary frequencies, showing its kinetic stability. Ab initio molecular dynamics simulations demonstrate that the topological structure of cage-like Ti12C68 cluster was well maintained when the effective temperature is up to 1139 K. The natural bond orbitals analysis shows that the d orbit of Ti atoms form four σ bonds with the neighboring four carbon atoms in each TiC13 subunit playing an important role in the cluster stability. The molecular frontier orbitals analysis indicates that Ti12C68 cage has a narrow HOMO-LUMO gap with metal-like property. It would be expected to enrich the species of hollow metal carbide clusters.
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