Abstract:
The geometric structure, electronic properties, electric dipole moment and infrared absorption spectra of M@B
12N
12 (M = La – Lu) clusters have been investigated systematically via first-principles based on density functional theory (DFT). The results show that the structural stability of the B
12N
12 cluster is significantly enhanced after embedding lanthanide atoms, and the molar volume decreases regularly with the increase of the atomic number of M, which is consistent with the lanthanide contraction effect. The spin multiplicity shows element dependence, Sm/Er/Yb@ B
12N
12 is a singlet, Pr/Pm/Ho/Tm/Lu@ B
12N
12 is a doublet, Ce/Gd/Dy@ B
12N
12 is a triplet, La/Eu/Tb@ B
12N
12 is a quartet, and Nd@ B
12N
12 is a quintet. The reduction of the HOMO-LUMO energy gap enhances the chemical activity, and the HOMO orbital is mostly distributed near the M and N atoms, while the LUMO orbital is mostly concentrated around the B atoms. The electric dipole moment shows a trend of first increasing and then decreasing after doping, and some structures are close to zero. The polarizability shows an oscillating feature, among which Tm@ B
12N
12 has the largest polarizability. With the increase of the atomic number of M, the number of infrared absorption peaks increases, and the absorption peaks of Nd/Sm/Er@ B
12N
12 show a blue shift, while the absorption peaks of the other doped structures show a red shift. The research results supplement and improve the theoretical data regarding the structure, electric dipole polarity, and infrared spectrum of lanthanide-embedded cage-like B
12N
12 clusters.