Accurate Computation of Cohesive Energies for Small to Medium-Sized Gold Clusters

High-level CCSD(T)-F12-type procedures have been used to assess the performance of a variety of computationally less demanding methods for the calculation of cohesive energies for small to medium-sized gold clusters. For geometry optimization for small gold clusters, the PBE-PBE/cc-pVDZ-PP procedure gives structures that are in close agreement with the benchmark geometries. We have devised a CCSD(T)-F12b-based composite protocol for the accurate calculation of cohesive energies for medium-sized gold clusters. Using these benchmark (nonspin-orbit vibrationless) cohesive energies, we find that fairly good agreement is achieved by the PBE-PBE-D3/cc-pVTZ-PP method. In conjunction with PBE-PBE/cc-pVDZ-PP zero-point vibrational energies and spin-obit corrections obtained with the PBE-PBE-2c/dhf-TZVP-2c method, we have calculated 0 K cohesive energies for Au2-Au20. Extrapolation of these cohesive energies to bulk yields an estimated value of 383.2 kJ mol(-1), which compares reasonably well with the experimental value of 368 kJ mol(-1).