MOLECULAR-DYNAMICS STUDY OF THE STRUCTURES, BINDING-ENERGIES, AND MELTING OF CLUSTERS OF FCC TRANSITION AND NOBLE-METALS USING THE VOTER AND CHEN VERSION OF THE EMBEDDED-ATOM MODEL

Using the Voter and Chen version of the embedded-atom model, we have carried out molecular-dynamics simulations to study the structures and melting of Ni, Pd, Pt, Cu, Ag, and Au clusters in the size range N = 2-23. The model predicts that all these clusters have structures based on icosahedral packing and similar thermodynamic behavior. Salient results are that all the 13-atom clusters have high melting temperatures, and that a premelting phenomenon occurs in the 14-atom and 20-atom clusters, which have a single atom outside a very stable structural core. Specific studies for Ni demonstrate that the premelting phenomenon also occurs in Ni15, Ni16, and Ni17, which have, respectively, two, three, and four atoms outside the Ni13 core.