Effect of spin-orbit coupling on small platinum nanoclusters

Abstract

We have shown that spin-orbit coupling plays an important role in determining the structures of platinum nanoclusters. We have used spin-orbit coupling self-consistently with density functional theory to study the geometry of platinum clusters and their binding energy. It has been found that the relative energies of the isomers of a cluster of a given size can be changed due to the inclusion of spin-orbit coupling. Planar structures were found for ${\mathrm{Pt}}_{n}$ clusters with $n\ensuremath{\leqslant}5$.