The Stability of Icosahedral Cluster and the Range of Interaction Potential

The relation between the stability of icosahedral clusters and the range of interaction potential is discussed. We found that the stability of icosahedral clusters may decrease with decreasing range of interaction potential. A simple formula about the critical number of icosahedral clusters and the range of interaction potential (M_c^1/3=A₁+A₂r_eff²) was proposed. The calculation of the stability of icosahedral fullerence molecular clusters shows that our idea is right.     

稳态Cu-Zr二十面体团簇电子结构的密度泛函研究

采用第一原理对以Cu为心的低能稳态Cu_nZ_(r13-n)(n=6,7,8,9)二十面体团簇的电子结构进行计算,结果表明:同一化学组分下,以Cu为心的Cu-Zr二十面体团簇中出现的同类原子聚集现象可以增强团簇的稳定性,降低费米能级(EF)上的电子数N(EF),这为低能稳态团簇拥有较小的N(EF)提供了深层次的理论解释.进一步的差分电子密度与Mulliken布居分析得知,Cu-Zr二十面体中共价键与离子键共存,成键态与反键态共存,且团簇在形成时壳层Zr与中心Cu原子是电子的提供者,壳层Cu是电子的获得者.该电荷转移方向是金属玻璃中以Cu为心的Cu-Zr二十面体团簇普遍遵循的规律,不随团簇的化学序参数及化学组分的变化而变化.计算的红外振动谱为实验上准确表征不同二十面体原子团提供了一种新的思路.     

Competition between face-centered cubic and icosahedral cluster structures

The binding energy of atoms in icosahedral and face-centered-cubic clusters is calculated numerically for pairwise Morse-potential interactions between atoms and for clusters containing from 561 to 923 atoms, which corresponds to gradual filling of the sixth layer of the icosahedral cluster. Perturbation theory is used to calculate the cluster binding energy, in which the small parameter is the ratio of the interaction energy between non-nearest neighbor atoms to the interaction energy between nearest neighbors. Values of the Morse interaction potential parameter are found for which the energies of clusters with different structures coincide. Under the conditions used in these computations, the strain energy of a cluster can be neglected. Although the contribution of the interaction energy between non-nearest neighbors to the total cluster energy is small, it turns out to be important in finding the level crossing parameter. Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 112, 1082–1090 (September 1997)     

Molecular dynamics characterization of icosahedral short range order in undercooled copper

The stability of undercooled simple metals is still an intriguing problem for materials science and technology. There is not consensus on the role played by the icosahedral short range order during undercooling. The scenario is even less clear for undercooled metals under external pressure. Extensive molecular dynamics simulations, based on an empirical tight-binding interatomic potential, are performed to explain experimental results recently obtained on liquid and undercooled liquid copper. A common neighbour analysis is used to fully characterize the icosahedral short range order in both undercooled and liquid systems. Moreover, the effect of pressure on icosahedral short range order, is addressed and rationalized. External pressure increases the probability to find atomic bonds with icosahedral symmetry both in the liquid and in the undercooled copper.     

Energy and structure of copper clusters （n=70-150） studied by the Monte Carlo computer simulation

The structure and binding energy of copper clusters of the size range 70 to 150 were studied by using the embeddedatom method. The stability of the structure of the clusters was studied by calculating the average binding energy per atom, first difference energy and second difference energy of copper cluster. Most of the copper clusters of the size n=70-150 adopt an icosahedral structure. The results show that the trends are in agreement with theoretic prediction for copper clusters. The most stable structures for copper clusters are found at n=77, 90, 95, 131, 139.     

Simulated Cu–Zr glassy alloys: the impact of composition on icosahedral order

The structural properties of the simulated Cu_αZr_1-α glassy alloys are studied in the wide range of the copper concentration to clarify the impact of the composition on the number density of the icosahedral clusters. Both bond orientational order parameters and Voronoi tessellation methods are used to identify these clusters. Our analysis shows that abundance of the icosahedral clusters and the chemical composition of these clusters are essentially nonmonotonic versus and demonstrate local extrema. That qualitatively explains the existence of pinpoint compositions of high glass-forming ability observing in Cu Zr alloys. Finally, it has been shown that Voronoi method overestimates drastically the abundance of the icosahedral clusters in comparison with the bond orientational order parameters one.     

Co-Ag与Co-Au合金团簇核层结构模拟

钴基二元合金团簇具有特殊催化和电磁性能已成为研究的热点.探究Co-Ag与Co-Au团簇稳定结构是研究其性质的重要步骤.运用基于内核构建的自适应免疫优化算法对大尺寸Co_(55)Ag_n、Co_(55)Au_n(n=1-55, 60, 70, 80, 92)团簇结构进行优化.基于紧束缚势二阶矩近似的多体Gupta势函数被用于描述合金团簇原子间相互作用.计算结果显示Co_(55)Ag_n、Co_(55)Au_n(n=1-55, 60)最稳定结构的主要构型为Mackay二十面体.原子分布分析显示Co原子位于内层,而Ag、Au原子均趋于分布在外层,呈现出核层状态.对于大尺寸Co_(55)Ag_n、Co_(55)Au_n(n=80, 92)团簇,Co-Ag团簇采取无定形结构,而Co-Au团簇为规则的二十面体结构.     

Magnetic anisotropy in icosahedral cobalt clusters

Magnetic anisotropy has been measured in multiply twinned, icosahedral cobalt clusters. It is found that the low-temperature magnetization of deposited cluster layers is well defined with the Stoner–Wohlfarth model by averaging over clusters with a range of anisotropy energy. Anisotropy energy calculation based on Néel's pair model shows that the icosahedral structure and the layer-by-layer growth of the clusters induce oscillations of the magnetic anisotropy as a function of the filling of the outer surface of the particle. The magnetization measurement at room temperature indicates a weakly correlated cluster glass, as deduced from the approach to saturation that is well described with 2D random anisotropy model.     

Melting Behaviour of Core-Shell Structured Ag-Rh Bimetallic Clusters

The melting behaviour of four typical core-shell structured 309-atom Ag-Rh bimetallic clusters, with decahedral and icosahedral geometric configurations, is investigated by using molecular dynamics simulation, based on the Sutton-Chen potential. The initial atomic configurations are obtained from semi-grand canonical ensemble Monte Carlo simulations. It is found that the melting point temperature Tm increases with the mole fraction of Rh in the bimetallic clusters, and Tm of Ag-Rh icosahedral clusters is higher than those of Ag-Rh decahedral clusters with the same Rh mole fraction. It is also found that the Ag atoms lie on the surface of Ag-Rh bimetallic clusters even after melting.     

Surface tensions and stress tensors of liquid and solid clusters by molecular dynamics

Surface tension and pressure (stress) tensors of Lennard-Jones clusters, in the size range 200 ~ 2700 atoms/cluster, formed from evaporating liquid droplets were calculated in a Molecular Dynamics simulation. Icosahedral clusters have a much larger surface tension than decahedral, fcc, and hcp ones, meanwhile asymmetric icosahedral clusters have a lower surface tension. Fcc and hcp clusters have a very small surface tension. Decahedral clusters have a surface tension closer to that of fcc and hcp ones than to that of icosahedral ones, though both icosahedral and decahedral structures have five fold symmetry axis. Binary component clusters have a higher surface tension than single component ones.     

大尺寸核/层Co-Pd合金团簇稳定结构研究

纳米尺度合金团簇具有特殊的光学、电、磁和催化等性质,在基础研究和应用领域吸引了广泛的兴趣.使用多体Gupta势函数描述Co-Pd团簇原子间相互作用,应用基于内核构建的自适应免疫优化算法确定最稳定结构.研究结果显示:98原子Co-Pd团簇结构可分为面心立方结构、Mackay二十面体、双二十面体、由双二十面体面面相连构成的结构和十面体结构.序列参数显示Co原子位于内层,而Pd原子位于外层.原子半径和表面能进一步解释了Co和Pd原子的分布规律.原子数目为147的Co-Pd团簇均为完整二十面体结构.     

快凝过程中液态Cu64Zr36合金二十面体团簇遗传与演化跟踪

采用分子动力学方法模拟研究了液态Cu₆₄Zr₃₆合金在冷速50 K/ns下 的快速凝固过程, 并通过双体分布函数、Honeycutt-Andersen (H-A) 键型指数和团簇类型指数对其微结构演变特性进行了分析. 液态与快凝玻璃合金的主要原子组态都是二十面体(12 0 12 0)及其变形结构 (12 8/1551 2/1541 2/1431), 其中比例最高的是Cu芯Cu₈Zr₅基本原子团, 其次是Cu₇Zr₆和Cu₉Zr₄团簇; 并且由这些二十面体基本原子团铰链形成的中程序, 其尺寸分布在液相和固相中分别呈现出13, 19, 25,···和13, 19, 23, 25, 29, 37,···的幻数特征. 团簇的演化与跟踪分析发现: 没有任何团簇能从液态直接遗传到固态合金, 遗传的起始温度出现在T_m–T_g过冷液相区. 二十面体团簇的遗传主要以完全和直接遗传为主, 并且一个明显的增加发生在T_g附近. 在玻璃化转变温度T_g以下, (12 0 12 0) 二十面体比 (12 8/1551 2/1541 2/1431) 变形二十面体具有更高的结构遗传能力, 但仅有少部分在遗传过程中能保持化学成分的恒定. 通过部分遗传, 某些二十面体中程序甚至也能从过冷液体中被遗传到玻璃合金. 关键词： 快速凝固 分子动力学 二十面体团簇 遗传     

On the role of mechanical stress in the chemical ordering of nanoalloys

Metallic alloy clusters at equilibrium display an inhomogeneous stress field which may contribute to the chemical ordering and segregation properties. We use the example of cuboctahedral and icosahedral Au-Pd clusters with the same size to compare these properties in systems displaying moderately and highly inhomogeneous stress fields. Metropolis Monte Carlo simulations in the semi-grand canonical ensemble are used with an empirical potential to predict equilibrium configurations. Pressure maps are used to estimate stress on each atom. It is found that when the stress field is moderately inhomogeneous, ordering is dominantly driven by thermodynamic forces. In icosahedral clusters, ordering is found to be the consequence of a balance where thermodynamic forces and mechanical stress may conflict or reinforce each other. Order-disorder transitions are smoother in the systems with higher stress inhomogeneity and it is conjectured that, in icosahedral clusters, disorder may nucleate in the central core.     

Au-Pd与Au-Pt合金团簇稳定结构对比

由贵金属元素组成的合金团簇在光、电、磁和催化等领域吸引了广泛的研究兴趣.本文基于多体Gupta势函数采用内核构建的自适应免疫优化算法优化了Au-Pd和Au-Pt团簇最稳定结构.研究结果显示98原子Au-Pd与Au-Pt团簇均包含面心立方结构、十面体、二十面体和Leary四面体结构,但是两者的构型分布上存在着差异.键数变化分析结果显示Au原子分布趋势接近.此外,147原子Au-Pd和AuPt团簇均为完整二十面体结构.序列参数分析显示均形成核层结构.     

New magic numbers in metallic clusters: an unexpected metal dependence

Using a many-body tight-binding potential within the second moment approximation in a quenched molecular dynamics simulation, we calculate the internal energy of free Cu, Ag and Au clusters of various sizes and morphologies. We find that the icosahedral structure, which is the equilibrium shape for small sizes at least for Cu and Ag, adopts a very inhomogeneous atomic relaxation. More surprisingly, introducing a vacancy at the center lowers the mean energy per atom for sufficiently large size icosahedra. This means that above a critical size, which decreases from Cu to Au, the icosahedron admits a constitutional vacancy. Taking into account the stability domain of the icosahedron relative to the fcc structure (namely the Wulff polyhedron), we find that there is a stability range of size for Cu and Ag icosahedra with a central vacancy, but not for Au icosahedra. This trend along the noble metal column is discussed in view of tight-binding potential parameters.     

Effects of charge on the structures and spin moments of Nil3 cluster

The structural stability and magnetic properties of the icosahedral Ni13, Ni13^＋1 and Ni13^-1 clusters have been obtained by utilizing all-electron density functional theory with the generalized gradient approximations for the exchange-correlation energy. The calculated results show that the ground states of neutral and charged clusters all favour a D3d structure, a distorted icosahedron, due to the Jahn-Teller effect. The radial distortions caused by doping one electron and by doping one hole are opposite to each other. Doping one electron will result in a 1/2 decrease and doping one hole will result in a 1/2 increase of the total spin. Both increasing interatomic spacing and decreasing coordination will lead to an enhancement of the spin magnetic moments for Nil3 clusters.     

Composition-dependent electrical resistivity in an Al-Re-Si 1 /1-cubic approximant phase: an indication of electron confinement in clusters

We report the synthesis of alpha-AlReSi and show that it is a 1/1-cubic approximant phase of the icosahedral quasicrystal with a = 12.9 A. The trend of the resistivity of the new approximant phase shows a nonmetallic character, similar to those seen in the stable icosahedral phases. The resistivity depends sensitively on the Re concentration and the nonmetallic transport is observed only at the Re concentration close to 17.4 at. %, where the transition metal sites in the icosahedral cluster are exclusively occupied by Re atoms. In view of a recent ab initio calculation, the present result suggests strongly the formation of the virtual bound states, or confinement of electrons, in the icosahedral clusters of transition metal atoms.     

Three-dimensional simulation on explosions of hydrogen atomic clusters irradiated by an intense femtosecond laser pulse

Using classic particle dynamics simulations, the interaction process between an intense femtosecond laser pulse and icosahedral hydrogen atomic clusters H_{13}, H_{55} and H_{147} has been studied. It is revealed that with increasing number of atoms in the cluster, the kinetic energy of ions generated in the Coulomb explosion of the ionized hydrogen clusters increases. The expansion process of the clusters after laser irradiation has also been examined, showing that the expansion scale decreases with increasing cluster size.