Competition between surface chemisorption and cage formation in Fe12O12 clusters

The electronic and geometrical structures of the clusters composed of 12 iron and 12 oxygen atoms are obtained using all-electron density functional theory. It is found that the states with geometrical structures corresponding to oxygen chemisorbed on the ground-state Fe12 cluster surface (Fe12O12) are close in total energy to the states whose geometrical configurations are hollow cages (FeO)12. The lowest total energy state is the ferrimagnetic triplet state of Fe12O12. A ferrimagnetic nonet state of (FeO)12 is only marginally higher in total energy. The clusters are rich in nearly degenerate isomers. Oxygen adsorption dramatically quenches the spin of Fe12 clusters.