Observation of the Smallest Three-Dimensional Neutral Boron Cluster
Cong-Qiao Xu
Department of Chemistry and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Catalytic Chemistry, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China
] C.Q.X. and T.W. contributed equally to this work.
Search for more papers by this authorTiantong Wang
State Key Laboratory of Molecular Reaction Dynamics and Dalian Coherent Light Source, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian 116023, China
] C.Q.X. and T.W. contributed equally to this work.
Search for more papers by this authorChong Wang
State Key Laboratory of Molecular Reaction Dynamics and Dalian Coherent Light Source, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian 116023, China
Institute of Advanced Science Facilities, Shenzhen 518107, China
Department of Chemical Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China
Search for more papers by this authorXin-Ran Dong
Department of Chemistry and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Catalytic Chemistry, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China
Search for more papers by this authorHuijun Zheng
State Key Laboratory of Molecular Reaction Dynamics and Dalian Coherent Light Source, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian 116023, China
Search for more papers by this authorYa Zhao
State Key Laboratory of Molecular Reaction Dynamics and Dalian Coherent Light Source, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian 116023, China
Search for more papers by this authorLi-Li Pan
Department of Chemistry and Engineering Research Center of Advanced Rare-Earth Materials of Ministry of Education, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
Search for more papers by this authorJiayue Yang
State Key Laboratory of Molecular Reaction Dynamics and Dalian Coherent Light Source, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian 116023, China
Search for more papers by this authorWeiqing Zhang
State Key Laboratory of Molecular Reaction Dynamics and Dalian Coherent Light Source, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian 116023, China
Search for more papers by this authorGuorong Wu
State Key Laboratory of Molecular Reaction Dynamics and Dalian Coherent Light Source, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian 116023, China
Search for more papers by this authorHua Xie
State Key Laboratory of Molecular Reaction Dynamics and Dalian Coherent Light Source, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian 116023, China
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Gang Li
State Key Laboratory of Molecular Reaction Dynamics and Dalian Coherent Light Source, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian 116023, China
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Jun Li
Department of Chemistry and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Catalytic Chemistry, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China
Department of Chemistry and Engineering Research Center of Advanced Rare-Earth Materials of Ministry of Education, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
Fundamental Science Center of Rare Earths, Ganjiang Innovation Academy, Chinese Academy of Science, Ganzhou 341000, China
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Ling Jiang
State Key Laboratory of Molecular Reaction Dynamics and Dalian Coherent Light Source, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian 116023, China
Hefei National Laboratory, Hefei 230088, China
Search for more papers by this authorXueming Yang
Department of Chemistry and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Catalytic Chemistry, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China
State Key Laboratory of Molecular Reaction Dynamics and Dalian Coherent Light Source, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian 116023, China
Institute of Advanced Science Facilities, Shenzhen 518107, China
Hefei National Laboratory, Hefei 230088, China
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Lai-Sheng Wang
Department of Chemistry, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 02912, United States
Search for more papers by this authorCong-Qiao Xu
Department of Chemistry and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Catalytic Chemistry, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China
] C.Q.X. and T.W. contributed equally to this work.
Search for more papers by this authorTiantong Wang
State Key Laboratory of Molecular Reaction Dynamics and Dalian Coherent Light Source, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian 116023, China
] C.Q.X. and T.W. contributed equally to this work.
Search for more papers by this authorChong Wang
State Key Laboratory of Molecular Reaction Dynamics and Dalian Coherent Light Source, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian 116023, China
Institute of Advanced Science Facilities, Shenzhen 518107, China
Department of Chemical Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China
Search for more papers by this authorXin-Ran Dong
Department of Chemistry and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Catalytic Chemistry, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China
Search for more papers by this authorHuijun Zheng
State Key Laboratory of Molecular Reaction Dynamics and Dalian Coherent Light Source, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian 116023, China
Search for more papers by this authorYa Zhao
State Key Laboratory of Molecular Reaction Dynamics and Dalian Coherent Light Source, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian 116023, China
Search for more papers by this authorLi-Li Pan
Department of Chemistry and Engineering Research Center of Advanced Rare-Earth Materials of Ministry of Education, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
Search for more papers by this authorJiayue Yang
State Key Laboratory of Molecular Reaction Dynamics and Dalian Coherent Light Source, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian 116023, China
Search for more papers by this authorWeiqing Zhang
State Key Laboratory of Molecular Reaction Dynamics and Dalian Coherent Light Source, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian 116023, China
Search for more papers by this authorGuorong Wu
State Key Laboratory of Molecular Reaction Dynamics and Dalian Coherent Light Source, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian 116023, China
Search for more papers by this authorHua Xie
State Key Laboratory of Molecular Reaction Dynamics and Dalian Coherent Light Source, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian 116023, China
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Gang Li
State Key Laboratory of Molecular Reaction Dynamics and Dalian Coherent Light Source, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian 116023, China
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Jun Li
Department of Chemistry and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Catalytic Chemistry, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China
Department of Chemistry and Engineering Research Center of Advanced Rare-Earth Materials of Ministry of Education, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
Fundamental Science Center of Rare Earths, Ganjiang Innovation Academy, Chinese Academy of Science, Ganzhou 341000, China
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Ling Jiang
State Key Laboratory of Molecular Reaction Dynamics and Dalian Coherent Light Source, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian 116023, China
Hefei National Laboratory, Hefei 230088, China
Search for more papers by this authorXueming Yang
Department of Chemistry and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Catalytic Chemistry, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China
State Key Laboratory of Molecular Reaction Dynamics and Dalian Coherent Light Source, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian 116023, China
Institute of Advanced Science Facilities, Shenzhen 518107, China
Hefei National Laboratory, Hefei 230088, China
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Lai-Sheng Wang
Department of Chemistry, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 02912, United States
Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
Despite major progress in the investigation of boron cluster anions, direct experimental study of neutral boron clusters remains a significant challenge because of the difficulty in size selection. Here we report a size-specific study of the neutral B9 cluster using threshold photoionization with a tunable vacuum ultraviolet free electron laser. The ionization potential of B9 is measured to be 8.45±0.02 eV and it is found to have a heptagonal bipyramid D7h structure, quite different from the planar molecular wheel of the B9- anionic cluster. Chemical bonding analyses reveal superior stability of the bipyramidal structure arising from delocalized σ and π bonding interactions within the B7 ring and between the B7 ring and the capping atoms. Photoionization of B9 breaks the single-electron B-B bond of the capping atoms, which undergo off-axis distortion to enhance interactions with the B7 ring in the singlet ground state of B9+. The single-electron B-B bond of the capping atoms appears to be crucial in stabilizing the D7h structure of B9. This work opens avenues for direct size-dependent experimental studies of a large variety of neutral boron clusters to explore the stepwise development of network structures.
Open Research
Data Availability Statement
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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