PNNL

Abstract

Photoelectron spectroscopy and ab initio calculations are used to investigate the electronic structure and chemical bonding of Si5 - and Si5 2- in NaSi5 -. Photoelectron spectra of Si5 - and NaSi5 - are obtained at several photon energies and are compared with theoretical calculations at four different levels of theory, TD-B3LYP, R(U)OVGF, UCCSD(T), and EOM-CCSD(T), all with 6-311+G(2df) basis sets. Excellent agreement is observed between experiment and theory, confirming the obtained ground-state structures for Si5 - and Si5 2-, which are both found to be trigonal bipyramid with D3h symmetry at several levels of theory. Chemical bonding in Si5, Si5 -, and Si5 2- is analyzed using NPA, molecular orbitals, ELF, and NICS indices. The bonding in Si5 2- is compared with that in the isoelectronic and isostructural B5H5 2- species, but they are found to differ due to the involvement of electron densities, which are supposed to be lone pairs in the skeletal bonding in Si5 2-.