A systematic study of Ptn (n = 3, 5, 7) clusters adsorbed on the metallic (5, 5) single wall carbon
nanotube was carried out using theoretical calculations within Density Functional Theory. The geometrical
and electronic structure and interaction between the Pt clusters and the single wall carbon nanotube were
investigated. The bridge adsorption sites on the outer wall of the carbon nanotube are found favorable for Pt
atom. We found that the average C-Pt and Pt-Pt bond length, binding energy, and the amount of charge
transfers from the Pt cluster toward the nanotube increase with the size of cluster. The calculated density-ofstates
suggest a mixing of ionic and covalent character for the binding nature of this system. ?? 2006
WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA.
