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Virginia Commonwealth University

Theses and Dissertations

Cluster

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Full-Text Articles in Physics

Electronic And Geometric Structure Of Alnom And Alnom +, Albert R. Armstrong Jan 2019

Electronic And Geometric Structure Of Alnom And Alnom +, Albert R. Armstrong

Theses and Dissertations

Generally, the electronic stability of aluminum clusters is associated with either closed electronic shells of delocalized electrons, or aluminum in the +3 state. To explore alternative routes for electronic stability in aluminum oxide clusters, theoretical methods were used to examine the geometric and electronic structure of AlnOm (2≤n≤7; 1≤m≤10) clusters. Two types of electronically stable clusters with large HOMO-LUMO gaps were identified the first being Al2nO3m clusters with a +3 oxidation state on the aluminum, and the second being planar clusters such as Al4O4, Al5O3, Al …


Inducing Active Sites In Clusters: Reactivity Of Al13ix- And Al14iy- (X=0-2, Y=2-4) With Methanol, Christopher Powell May 2011

Inducing Active Sites In Clusters: Reactivity Of Al13ix- And Al14iy- (X=0-2, Y=2-4) With Methanol, Christopher Powell

Theses and Dissertations

Size selective reactivity has been observed in pure aluminum cluster anions as a result of Lewis acid and base pairs. Using this a starting point, the goal of this study has been to explore how reactivity is affected with the addition of one or more ligand, which may induce active sites on the surface of the metal clusters. To study this, a theoretical investigation was undertaken on Al13Ix- and Al14Iy- (x=0-2, y=2-4) and their reactivity with methanol. The hypothesis was that iodine can induce a Lewis base site on the opposite side of the cluster, which may enhance reactivity. In …