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APS » Journals » Phys. Rev. B » Volume 68 » Issue 24
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Phys. Rev. B 68, 241403(R) (2003) [4 pages]

Coalescence of nanoscale metal clusters: Molecular-dynamics study

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S. Hendy*
Applied Mathematics, Industrial Research Ltd., Lower Hutt, New Zealand

S. A. Brown and M. Hyslop
Nanostructure Engineering Science and Technology (NEST) Group and MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Canterbury, New Zealand

Received 24 September 2003; revised 30 October 2003; published 18 December 2003

We study the coalescence of nanoscale metal clusters in an inert-gas atmosphere using constant-energy molecular dynamics. The coalescence proceeds via atomic diffusion with the release of surface energy raising the temperature. If the temperature exceeds the melting point of the coalesced cluster, a molten droplet forms. If the temperature falls between the melting point of the larger cluster and those of the smaller clusters, a metastable molten droplet forms and freezes.

© 2003 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevB.68.241403
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevB.68.241403
PACS:
36.40.Ei, 64.70.Nd

*Also at MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, School of Chemical and Physical Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.

 
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