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Carbon clusters near the crossover to fullerene stability

P. R. C. Kent·M. D. Towler·R. J. Needs·G. Rajagopal
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Abstract

The thermodynamic stability of structural isomers of $\mathrm{C}_{24}$, $\mathrm{C}_{26}$, $\mathrm{C}_{28}$ and $\mathrm{C}_{32}$, including fullerenes, is studied using density functional and quantum Monte Carlo methods. The energetic ordering of the different isomers depends sensitively on the treatment of electron correlation. Fixed-node diffusion quantum Monte Carlo calculations predict that a $\mathrm{C}_{24}$ isomer is the smallest stable graphitic fragment and that the smallest stable fullerenes are the $\mathrm{C}_{26}$ and $\mathrm{C}_{28}$ clusters with $\mathrm{C}_{2v}$ and $\mathrm{T}_{d}$ symmetry, respectively. These results support proposals that a $\mathrm{C}_{28}$ solid could be synthesized by cluster deposition.

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P. R. C. Kent, M. D. Towler, R. J. Needs, G. Rajagopal. 1999-09-20. Carbon clusters near the crossover to fullerene stability. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.62.15394

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