Nanoclusters, particularly
gold nanoclusters, have attracted the
attention of researchers due to their potential applications in the
medicine and energy fields. Other noble-metal nanoclusters, including
Pt, have also been studied, but in lesser detail. Pt is known for
its excellent catalytic properties and is a promising candidate for
applications in catalysis and biomedicine. In this study, we used
density functional theory to elucidate the molecular and electronic
structures of small phosphine-ligated Pt nanoclusters. This study
is directed at identifying highly stable platinum clusters. Our results
show that phosphine-ligated platinum nanoclusters with σ-aromaticity
have high stability. In addition, we were able to predict the most
stable clusters using an electron counting equation.