Figure 5. Optical properties and electronic structures of Ag₁₃₆ and Ag₃₇₄ nanoparticles.

(a,b) Ultraviolet–visible absorption spectra of (c) Ag₁₃₆ (experimental and computed) and (b) Ag₃₇₄ (experimental) nanoparticles. In the calculated spectra, the individual transitions are smoothed by using a Gaussian width of 0.1 eV. (c) Projection of the Kohn–Sham electron states (projected densities of electron states (PDOS)) of Ag₁₃₆ (top) and Ag₃₇₄ (bottom) to spherical harmonics centred at the metal core. The different spherical harmonics components (S, P, D,...) are indicated with colours as shown in the legend. The Fermi energy is at zero.