Physical and chemical aspects of the study of clusters, nanostructures and nanomaterials. Founded at 2009


Metallic nanostars as a new object for atomistic simulation

D.N. Sokolov, V.S. Myasnichenko, O.V. Polev, K.G. Savina, M.G. Gostintsev, N.Yu.. Sdobnyakov

Tver State University

DOI: 10.26456/pcascnn/2025.17.485

Original article

Abstract: The thermal stability of gold nanostars with two types of initial morphology: a great dodecicosacron and a great inverted snub icosidodecahedron was studied. The initial nanostar configurations were obtained using the Atomsk program, followed by structural relaxation. Thermally induced stress was simulated using the Monte Carlo method (Metropolis scheme). Interatomic interactions were described by the tight-binding potential. Critical destabilization temperatures, which increase with increasing size for both types of the initial morphology, were determined. Patterns of structural segregation during thermally induced stress up to the melting temperature were also established. Despite the dominance of the local FCC structure in the central part of the nanostars, the nature of the distribution of local HCP structure differs for the considered types of the initial morphology up to the melting temperature. Thermal degradation was shown to begin with «multiple rays» of nanostars, where the local atomic density is lower than the surface average one. The results allow us to predict the stability of anisotropic nanoparticles for photothermal applications.

Keywords: Monte Carlo method, tight-binding potential, gold nanostars, thermal stability, local density, crystalline phases, plasmonic nanostructures

  • Denis N. Sokolov – Ph. D., Researcher, General Physics Department, Tver State University
  • Vladimir S. Myasnichenko – Researcher, General Physics Department, Tver State University
  • Oleg V. Polev – 2nd year graduate student, General Physics Department, Tver State University
  • Kseniya G. Savina – 3rd year postgraduate student, General Physics Department, Tver State University
  • Michael G. Gostintsev – 4th year student, General Physics Department, Tver State University
  • Nickolay Yu.. Sdobnyakov – Dr. Sc., Docent, Professor, General Physics Department, Tver State University

For citation:

Sokolov D.N., Myasnichenko V.S., Polev O.V., Savina K.G., Gostintsev M.G., Sdobnyakov N.Yu.. Metallicheskie nanozvyozdy kak novyj obekt dlya atomisticheskogo modelirovaniya [Metallic nanostars as a new object for atomistic simulation], Fiziko-khimicheskie aspekty izucheniya klasterov, nanostruktur i nanomaterialov [Physical and chemical aspects of the study of clusters, nanostructures and nanomaterials], 2025, issue 17, pp. 485-496. DOI: 10.26456/pcascnn/2025.17.485.

Full article (in Russian): download PDF file

References:

1. Ngo N.M., Tran H.-V., Lee T.R. Plasmonic nanostars: systematic review of their synthesis and applications, ACS Applied Nano Materials, 2022, vol. 5, issue 10, pp. 14051-14091. DOI: 10.1021/acsanm.2c02533.
2. Skrabalak S.E., Chen J., Sun Y. et al. Gold nanocages: synthesis, properties, and applications, Accounts of Chemical Research, 2008, vol. 41, issue 12, pp. 1587-1595. DOI: 10.1021/ar800018v.
3. Lu X., Au L., McLellan J. et al. Fabrication of cubic nanocages and nanoframes by dealloying Au/Ag alloy nanoboxes with an aqueous etchant based on Fe(NO3)3 or NH4OH, Nano Letters, 2007, vol. 7, issue 6, pp. 1764-1769. DOI: 10.1021/nl070838l.
4. Becerril-Castro I.B., Camacho-Leon E., Torres-Castro J.L. et al. Gold nanostars: synthesis, optical and SERS analytical properties, Analysis & Sensing, 2022, vol. 2, issue 3, art. no. e202200005, 16 p. DOI: 10.1002/anse.202200005.
5. Lan T., Cui D., Liu T. et al. Gold nanostars: synthesis, modification and application, Nano Biomedicine & Engineering, 2023, vol. 15, issue 3, pp. 330-341. DOI: 10.26599/NBE.2023.9290025.
6. Khlebtsov N.G., Dykman L.A., Khlebtsov B.N. Synthesis and plasmonic tuning of gold and gold–silver nanoparticles, Russian Chemical Reviews, 2022, vol. 91, issue 10, art. no. RCR5058, 29 p. DOI: 10.57634/RCR5058.
7. Huang Y.-F., Valle A.C., Yeh C.-K. et al. Near infrared-activatable platinum-decorated gold nanostars for synergistic photothermal/ferroptotic therapy in combating cancer drug resistance, Advanced Healthcare Materials, 2020, vol. 9, issue 20, pp. 2000864-1–2000864-11. DOI: 10.1002/adhm.202000864.
8. Eshun G.B., Osonga F.J., Erdogan T., Golcu A., Sadik O.A. et al. Controlled synthesis and computational analysis of gold nanostars for the treatment of Fusarium oxysporum, RSC Advances, 2023, vol. 13, issue 31, pp. 21781-21792. DOI: 10.1039/D3RA04088G.
9. Morton W., Joyce C., Taylor J. et al. Modeling Au nanostar geometry in bulk solutions, Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 2023, vol. 127, issue 3, pp. 1680-1686. DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcc.2c07520.
10. Zarkov S.V., Pavlikov A.V., Kurlov V.V. et al. Numerical modeling of plasmonic properties of gold nanostars to prove the threshold nature of their modification under laser pulse, Optical Engineering, 2020, vol. 59, issue 6, pp. 061628-1-061628-8. DOI: 10.1117/1.OE.59.6.061628.
11. Xi W., Phan H.T., Haes A.J. How to accurately predict solution-phase gold nanostar stability, Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry, 2018, vol. 410, issue 24, pp. 6113-6123. DOI: 10.1007/s00216-018-1115-6.
12. Xi Z., Li Y., Wang J. et al. Role of surface curvature in gold nanostar properties and applications, ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering, 2023, vol. 10, issue 1, pp. 38-50. DOI: 10.1021/acsbiomaterials.3c00249.
13. Le N.T., Vo D., Le M. et al. Gold nanostar characterization by nanoparticle tracking analysis, ACS Omega, 2022, vol. 7, issue 49, pp. 44677-44688. DOI: 10.1021/acsomega.2c03275.
14. Kon I., Zyubin A., Samusev I. Numerical FDTD-based simulations for SERS-active planar plasmonic surfaces, Nanophotonics, Micro/Nano Optics, and Plasmonics VIII, 2023, vol. 12322, art. no. 1232210, 5 p. DOI: 10.1117/12.2637655.
15. Velázquez-Salazar J.J., Bazán-Díaz L., Zhang Q. et al. Controlled overgrowth of five-fold concave nanoparticles into plasmonic nanostars and their single-particle scattering properties, ACS Nano, 2019, vol. 13, issue 9, pp. 10113-10128. DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.9b03084.
16. Zhang F., Sun Y., Liu J., Zhao Y. et al. Engineering plasmonic Au nanostars: enhanced plasmonic properties, preparation and biomedical application, Materials Today Bio, 2025, vol. 33, pp. 102022-1-102022-15. DOI: 10.1016/j.mtbio.2025.102022.
17. Atomsk. Available at: www.url: https://atomsk.univ-lille.fr (accessed 01.09.2025).
18. Sokolov D.N., Sdobnyakov N.Yu., Kolosov A.Yu., Ershov P.M., Bogdanov S.S. Metropolis. Certificate RF, no. 2019661915, 2019. (In Russian).
19. Metropolis N., Ulam S. The Monte Carlo method, Journal of the American Statistical Association, 1949, vol. 44, issue 247, pp. 335–341. DOI: 10.2307/2280232.
20. Cleri F., Rosato V. Tight binding potentials for transition metals and alloys, Physical Review B, 1993, vol. 48, issue 1, pp. 22–33. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.48.22.
21. Stukowski A. Visualization and analysis of atomistic simulation data with OVITO – the open visualization tool, Modelling and Simulation in Materials Science and Engineering, 2010, vol. 18, issue 1, pp. 015012-1-015012-7. DOI: 10.1088/0965-0393/18/1/015012.
22. Sokolov D.N., Polev O.V., Myasnichenko V.S., Savina K.G., Sdobnyakov N.Yu. O strukturnoj stabil'nosti mono- i binarnykh metallicheskikh nanokletok [On the structural stability of mono- and binary metallic nanocages,], Fiziko-khimicheskie aspekty izucheniya klasterov, nanostruktur i nanomaterialov [Physical and chemical aspects of the study of clusters, nanostructures and nanomaterials], 2023, issue 15, pp. 602-613. DOI: 10.26456/pcascnn/2023.15.602. (In Russian).
23. Sokolov D.N., Myasnichenko V.S., Polev O.V., Savina K.G., Sdobnyakov N.Yu. O stabilnosti i relaksatsii struktury metallicheskikh nanokletok [On the stability and structure relaxation of metallic nanocages], Fiziko-khimicheskie aspekty izucheniya klasterov, nanostruktur i nanomaterialov [Physical and chemical aspects of the study of clusters, nanostructures and nanomaterials], 2024, issue 16, pp. 543-556. DOI: 10.26456/pcascnn/2024.16.543. (In Russian).
24. Larsen P.M., Schmidt S., Schiøtz J. Robust structural identification via polyhedral template matching modelling, Modelling and Simulation in Materials Science and Engineering, 2016, vol. 24, no. 5, art.no. 055007, 18 p. DOI: 10.1088/0965-0393/24/5/055007.
25. Sdobnyakov N.Yu. [Modelirovanie strukturnykh prevrashchenij v odnokomponentnykh i mnogokomponentnykh metallicheskikh nanosistemakh: uchebnik] Simulation of structural transformations in single-component and multi-component metallic nanosystems: a textbook. Tver, Tver State University Publ., 2025, 408 p. DOI:10.26456/sny.2025.408. (In Russian).
26. Sdobnyakov N.Yu., Komarov P.V., Sokolov D.N., Samsonov V.M. Study of the thermodynamic characteristics of gold nanoclusters using a Gupta multiparticle potential, The Physics of Metals and Metallography, 2011, vol. 111. issue 1. pp. 13-20. DOI: 10.1134/S0031918X11010121.
27. Tam N.T., Lam L.T., Hieu H.K. Thermodynamic nanoarchitectonics of gold nanoparticles: shape and size dependence of melting temperature and mean-square displacement, Applied Physics A, 2025, vol. 131, issue 7, art. no. 547, 8 p. DOI: 10.1007/s00339-025-08682-w.

⇐ Prevoius journal article | Content | Next journal article ⇒