Pressure effects on the structure of nanoclusters

Using a variety of theoretical and numerical methods, we have investigated the structural phase diagram of metal nanoparticles at finite temperature and pressure. The volume of the cluster is defined in the convex hull approximation, and Gibbs free energies are calculated assuming harmonic vibrational densities of states. Our results show that increasing pressure favors face-centered cubic structures over icosahedra, themselves favored over decahedral shapes.