Structure and Mössbauer parameters of antimony metal clusters

Abstract

We have carried out a study of the electronic structure of Sb clusters in the range from Sb₂ to Sb₂₁. Extended Hückel molecular orbital calculations were performed for such clusters. The contributions to the electron density at the ¹²¹Sb nucleus of the 5s and 5p electrons were evaluated for all the clusters. These calculations were compared with Mössbauer studies of Sb⁰, Sb₂ and Sb₄ isolated in solid argon. The isomer shift measurement on Sb⁰ was used to obtain a more accurate value of Δ〈r²〉 for the 37.2 keV Mössbauer transition of ¹²¹Sb. Mössbauer spectra of Sb₂ and Sb₄ were simulated using the calculated values of the quadrupole splitting.