Binding energies of germanium clusters, Gen (n = 2−5)

Gaussian-2 (G2) theory for third-row non-transition elements is used to calculate energies of germanium clusters, Gen (n = 2−5). The G2 energies are used to derive accurate binding energies for the clusters. The results for Ge2 and Ge3 are in agreement with experiment while there is some disagreement for Ge4 and Ge5. The binding energies are also calculated using the B3LYP density functional method with the 6–311 + G(3df,2p) basis set and compared with the G2 results and experiment.