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Updated: May 31, 2026

A Simple Method for the Size Controlled Synthesis of Stable Oligomeric Clusters of Gold Nanoparticles under Ambient Conditions
Published on: February 5, 2016
A systematic search for the structures, stabilities, and electronic properties of bimetallic Ca₂-doped gold clusters:
Ya-Ru Zhao1, Xiao-Yu Kuang, Peng Shao
1Institute of Atomic and Molecular Physics, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, China.
Abstract:
The local meta-GGA exchange correlation density functional (TPSS) with a relativistic effective core potential was employed to systematically investigate the geometric structures, stabilities, and electronic properties of bimetallic Ca(2)Au( n ) (n = 1-9) and pure gold Au( n ) (n ≤ 11) clusters. The optimized geometries show that the most stable isomers for Ca(2)Au( n ) clusters have 3D structure when n > 2, and that one Au atom capping the Ca(2)Au( n-1) structure for different-sized Ca(2)Au( n ) (n = 1-9) clusters is the dominant growth pattern. The average atomic binding energies and second-order difference in energies show that the Ca(2)Au(4) isomer is the most stable among the Ca(2)Au( n ) clusters. The same pronounced even-odd alternations are found in the HOMO-LUMO gaps, VIPs, and hardnesses. The polarizabilities of the Ca(2)Au( n ) clusters show an obvious local minimum at n = 4. Moreover, the inverse corrections to the polarizabilities versus the ionization potential and hardness were found for the gold clusters.
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