PNNL

Abstract

Structures and incremental binding enthalpies were determined for the M+(H2O)n ionic clusters, M=Cu, Ag, Au; n=1–4 (5 for Cu) using correlated ab initio electronic structure methods. The effects of basis set expansion and high-level correlation recovery were found to be significant, in contrast to alkali and alkaline earth cation/water complexes, where correlation of the d electrons is unimportant. The use of a systematic sequence of one-particle basis sets permitted binding enthalpies in the complete basis set limit to be estimated. Overall, the best theoretical binding enthalpies compared favorably with the available experimental data for copper and silver. No experimental data is available for gold/water clusters.