Eur. Phys. J. D (2013) 67: 63
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2013-30547-2

Regular Article

Ab initio and anion photoelectron studies of Rh_n (n = 1 − 9) clusters^*

¹ Instituto de Investigaciones en Materiales, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Apartado Postal 70-360, 04510 México D.F., México
² Harish-Chandra Research Institute, Chhatnag Road, Jhunsi, 211019 Allahabad, India
³ Department of Chemistry, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA

^a e-mail: mbeltran@unam.mx

Received: 31 August 2012
Received in final form: 19 January 2013
Published online: 21 March 2013

Abstract

Anion photoelectron spectroscopy (PES) and ab initio calculations have been used to identify the unique structural, electronic, and magnetic properties of both neutral and anionic Rh_n (n = 1 − 9) free standing clusters. Negative ion photoelectron spectra are presented for electron binding energies up to 3.493 eV. We discuss our computational results in the context of the PES experiment, in which the calculated electron affinities and vertical detachment energies are in good agreement with the measured values. Theoretically, we investigate the low-lying energy structures and the spin isomers of each neutral and anionic rhodium cluster and infer their magnetic moments. Our results show that octahedral and tetrahedral motifs are favoured in contrast to cubic motifs. Both experimental and theoretical results obtained here are compared and discussed with previous experimental and theoretical studies on the same systems.