0000000000274204
AUTHOR
Bernd Von Issendorff
showing 4 related works from this author
Ab Initio Simulation of Clusters: Relativistic Effects in Structure and Bonding of Noble Metal Nanoparticles
2005
Resolving the atomic and electronic structures of nanoclusters represents an important preliminary for their controlled use in future nanotechnologies. Here we show through the comparison of density-functional calculations with high-resolution photoelectron spectroscopy that 1.4 nm nanoparticles of silver (negatively charged clusters of 53 to 58 atoms) are icosahedral-based structures displaying a perfect icosahedral-induced electronic shell structure for Ag 55 − and slightly perturbed shell structures for the neighboring cluster sizes. At variance, 55-atom gold clusters exhibit several isomeric structures of low symmetry, with a largely diminished electronic shell structure. This surprisin…
Liquid-liquid phase coexistence in gold clusters. 2D or not 2D?
2006
The thermodynamics of gold cluster anions (${\mathrm{Au}}_{N}^{\ensuremath{-}}$, $N=11,\dots{},14$) is investigated using quantum molecular dynamics. Our simulations suggest that ${\mathrm{Au}}_{N}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ may exhibit a novel, freestanding planar liquid phase which dynamically coexists with a normal three-dimensional liquid. Upon cooling with experimentally realizable cooling rates, the entropy-favored three-dimensional liquid clusters often supercool and solidify into the ``wrong'' dimensionality. This indicates that experimental validation of theoretically predicted ${\mathrm{Au}}_{N}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ ground states might be more complicated than hitherto expected.
Size-Dependent Structural Evolution and Chemical Reactivity of Gold Clusters
2006
Ground-state structures and other experimentally relevant isomers of Au(15) (-) to Au(24) (-) clusters are determined through joint first-principles density functional theory and photoelectron spectroscopy measurements. Subsequent calculations of molecular O(2) adsorption to the optimal cluster structures reveal a size-dependent reactivity pattern that agrees well with earlier experiments. A detailed analysis of the underlying electronic structure shows that the chemical reactivity of the gold cluster anions can be elucidated in terms of a partial-jellium picture, where delocalized electrons occupying electronic shells move over the ionic skeleton, whose geometric structure is strongly infl…
Symmetry and Electronic Structure of Noble Metal Nanoparticles and the Role of Relativity
2004
High resolution photoelectron spectra of cold mass selected Cu_n-, Ag_n- and Au_n- with n =53-58 have been measured at a photon energy of 6.42 eV. The observed electron density of states is not the expected simple electron shell structure, but seems to be strongly influenced by electron-lattice interactions. Only Cu55- and Ag55- exhibit highly degenerate states. This is a direct consequence of their icosahedral symmetry, as is confirmed by density functional theory calculations. Neighboring sizes exhibit perturbed electronic structures, as they are formed by removal or addition of atoms to the icosahedron and therefore have lower symmetries. Gold clusters in the same size range show complet…