Abstract
The electronic structures of α- and β-gold selenides are studied. α- and β-AuSe are known as mixed valence compounds having linear (AuSe2, Au+) and square-planar (AuSe4, Au3+) units in their structure simultaneously. Our EHTB calculations, however, show that the oxidation states of Au in α- and β-AuSe are both close to +1. This is because the frontier orbitals are largely made up of Se p-orbitals and Au d-orbitals that lie well below the Fermi level. Our results are consistent with the recent X-ray absorption spectroscopy study on AuSe which show that all Au in the compound exhibit a monovalent state independent of their chemical environments.