Geometrical Structures and Electronic Properties of Ga6 and Ga5X (X = B, C, N, O, F, Al, Si, P, S, Cl) Clusters

• Main Authors: Yanfei Hu, Guangfu Ji, Yachuan Yao, Jiaonan Yuan, Weisen Xu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2018-04-01
• Series: Materials
• Subjects: density functional theory; CALYPSO; Multiwfn
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/1996-1944/11/4/552

Based on the unbiased CALYPSO (Crystal structure Analysis by Particle Swarm Optimization) structure searching method in combination with density functional theory (DFT), the geometrical structures and electronic properties are investigated theoretically for Ga6 and Ga5X (X = B, C, N, O, F, Al, Si, P, S, Cl) clusters. The PBE0 exchange-correlation functional and the 6-311G(d) basis set is carried out to determine global minima on potential energy surfaces. The relative stabilities of the clusters are examined by the binding energies and substitution reaction. Following the predictions of the Jellium model, the Ga5B cluster with the 18 valence electrons is the most stable structure. At last, with the obtained lowest energy structures, some physical properties such as electrons transfer, molecular orbitals, and total and partial densities of states are discussed, respectively.