Physical and chemical aspects of the study of clusters, nanostructures and nanomaterials
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Determination of the size limit of stability of the fcc phase of Ag nanoparticles

Yu.Ya. Gafner, D.A. Ryzhkova, S.L. Gafner, A.A. Cherepovskaya

Khakass State University

DOI: 10.26456/pcascnn/2024.16.457

Original article

Abstract: The main objective of the study was to find the size limit at which silver nanoclusters with different initial morphology spontaneously change their structure to the fcc structure inherent to the bulk silver. For this purpose, we have examined the data of high-resolution electron microscopy of the initial and annealed silver nanoparticles formed on a carbon substrate by vacuum-thermal evaporation. It was found that as a result of annealing, the number of small nanoparticles (D<3,5 nm) approximately twice decreased, and the proportion of nanoparticles with icosahedral and decahedral facets increased approximately 1,5 times. To evaluate the obtained results by the molecular dynamics method based on the second moment approximation of the tight-binding potential, an additional study of the stability limits of structural modifications of silver nanoclusters of similar diameters (D=2-10 nm) was carried out in order to determine the size limit of a possible thermally induced structural transition from the initial amorphous morphology to the fcc phase. The obtained data were compared with the results for Ag nanoparticles with the initial fcc structure. It was shown that the size limit at which the nanoclusters changed their initial amorphous structure to the fcc structure corresponds to a particle diameter of 8-10 nm.

Keywords: nanoclusters, silver, crystallization, structure, computer simulation, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy

  • Yury Ya. Gafner – Dr. Sc., Professor, Chief of the Department of Mathematics, Physics and Information Technology, Khakass State University
  • Daria A. Ryzhkova – 4th year postgraduate student, Senior Lecturer, Department of Mathematics, Physics and Information Technology, Khakass State University
  • Svetlana L. Gafner – Dr. Sc., Docent, Professor of the Department of Mathematics, Physics and Information Technology, Khakass State University
  • Arina A. Cherepovskaya – 2nd year graduate student of specialty «Modern digital technologies in education», Khakass State University

Reference:

Gafner, Yu.Ya. Determination of the size limit of stability of the fcc phase of Ag nanoparticles / Yu.Ya. Gafner, D.A. Ryzhkova, S.L. Gafner, A.A. Cherepovskaya // Physical and chemical aspects of the study of clusters, nanostructures and nanomaterials. — 2024. — I. 16. — P. 457-467. DOI: 10.26456/pcascnn/2024.16.457. (In Russian).

Full article (in Russian): download PDF file

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