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Calculated valence electron density of silicon nanocrystal
A model of the calculated valence electron density of a silicon nanocrystal.
This plot shows where all the electrons are moving within a silicon nanocrystal. Each electron in the molecule exists in a strangely shaped orbit, and the plot looks like the electrons form clouds around all the atoms and in between neighboring atoms. This plot shows the bonds that exist between atoms that hold the molecule together.
[Research supported by U.S. National Science Foundation grants DMR 0102668 and DMR 0121361.] (Year of image: 2002)
Credit: Zack Helms/Quantum Simulations Laboratory, North Carolina State University; simulations completed using computational resources provided by the National Center for Supercomputing Applications
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