A global optimisation study of the low-lying isomers of the alumina octomer (Al2O3)8

Abstract We employ the Monte-Carlo Basin-Hopping (MC-BH) global optimisation technique with inter- atomic pair potentials to generate low-energy candidates of stoichiometric alumina octomers ((Al 2 O 3 ) 8 ). The candidate structures are subsequently refined with density functional theory calculations employing hybrid functionals (B3LYP and PBE0) and a large basis set (6-311+G(d)) including a vibrational analysis. We report the discovery of a set of energetically low-lying alumina octomer clusters, including a new global minimum candidate, with shapes that are elongated rather than spherical. We find a stability limit for these and smaller-sized clusters at a temperature of T ≃ 1300 – 1450  K corresponding to a phase transition in liquid alumina.