We present the results of mixed quantum/classical simulations on relaxed thermal nanoscale water cluster anions, ( ), with n=200, 500, 1000 and 8000. By using initial equilibration with constraints, we investigate stable/metastable negatively charged water clusters with both surface-bound and interior-bound excess electron states. Characterization of these states is performed in terms of geometrical parameters, energetics, and optical absorption spectroscopy of the clusters. The calculations provide data characterizing these states in the gap between previously published calculations, and experiments, on smaller clusters and the limiting cases of either an excess electron in bulk water, or an excess electron at an infinite water/air interface. The present results are in general agreement with previous simulations and provide a consistent picture of the evolution of the physical properties of water cluster anions with c E-mail: turi@chem.elte.hu, fax: (36)-1-372-2592 madaradam@gmail.com, fax: (36)-1-372-2592 rossky@mail.utexas.edu, fax: (1)-512-471-1624 3 size over the entire size range, including results for vertical detachment energies and absorption spectra that would signify their presence. In particular, the difference in size dependence between surface-bound and interior-bound state absorption spectra is dramatic, while for detachment energies the dependence is qualitatively the same.4
IntroductionThe physics of water cluster anions has remained an important focus of research efforts for more than two decades. The intense scientific interest is largely motivated by the central role of water cluster anions in various important physical processes in atmospheric chemistry, interstellar chemistry, and in electron-initiated processes in aqueous systems. 1 Furthermore, the finite size and the anticipated relative simplicity of water cluster anions, compared to a condensed phase 1 renders them an excellent model for both experimental 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 and theoretical methods under welldefined conditions. 11,12,13,14 Despite the considerable effort invested, there is still no consensus on the most basic structural properties of water cluster anions. Two distinct localization patterns have been predicted by theory for water cluster anions. In the interior-bound (IB)states, the excess electron localizes in a solvent void surrounded by properly oriented water molecules in clear analogy to the hydrated electron. 11-14, 15,16,17,18,19,20 Theoretical work also suggested that an alternative binding motif may exist with the excess electron being stabilized by the electrostatic reaction field of the cluster dipole, in surface-bound (SB) states, with significant electronic amplitude appearing outside the molecular framework.
11-20Sophisticated experiments on size selected clusters, however, observe at least three characteristic cluster anion classes reflected by three distinctly different trends in the variation of the vertical electron detachment energy with size. 8,9,21 The systematic trends clearly suggest a commonali...