Abstract
First-principles electronic structure calculations are carried out for the and endohedral clusters, which appear in the silicon clathrate I and II. We analyze electronic structures, binding energies, charge transfers, and exohedral binding energies of single Si atoms on the clusters. We compare the electronic structures of the cluster with that of the corresponding hollow cluster. We find that, unlike the hollow cluster which undergoes a structural change, the endohedral Ba atom in the cluster stabilizes the cage structure with symmetry slightly distorted from symmetry. The computed geometrical charge transfer is and the physical one is for the endohedral Ba atom. The eigenstates of both the clusters can be understood on the basis of a simple model previously used to explain the spherical carbon fullerenes. The charge distribution, corresponded to the highest valence electron state, relates to the bonding nature of the cage Si atoms of the cluster. The top positions of the cage Si atoms on this cluster is the most unstable among the positions investigated despite the bonding of the cage atoms; the position on the center of edge is the most stable for the exohedral Si atom; the hollow site at the center of the pentagonal ring is the second. The two exohedral positions, top and sites, around the cluster in the clathrate I are the most unstable among the positions. We discuss the mechanism of the growth of the clathrates I.
- Received 30 November 2000
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.64.155403
©2001 American Physical Society