Al7Ag and Al7Au clusters with large highest occupied molecular orbital-lowest unoccupied molecular orbital gap.

The candidate structures for the ground-state geometry of the Al(7)M (M = Li, Cu, Ag, and Au) clusters are obtained within the spin-polarized density functional theory. Absorption energy, vertical ionization potential, vertical electron affinity, and the energy gap between the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) level and the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) level have been calculated to investigate the effects of doping. Doping with Ag or Au can lead to a large HOMO-LUMO gap, low electron affinity, and increased ionization potential of Al(7) cluster. In the lowest-energy structure of the Al(7)Au cluster, the Al atom binding to the Al(6)Au acts monovalent and the other six Al atoms are trivalent. Thus, the Al(7)Au cluster has 20 valence electrons, and its enhanced stability may be due to the electronic shell closure effect.