https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2002-00232-x
On the structure of small lead clusters
University Chemical Laboratory () , Lensfield Road, Cambridge CB2 1EW, UK
Applied Mathematics, Industrial Research Limited, Lower Hutt, New Zealand
Corresponding author: a jpkd1@cam.ac.uk
Received:
17
July
2002
Published online:
10
December
2002
We have located putative global minima for all lead clusters with up to 160 atoms using
a glue potential to model the interatomic interactions. The lowest-energy structures
are not face-centred cubic, as suggested previously. Rather, for N<40 the majority of structures
are decahedral or hexagonal close-packed, and beyond this size the structures do not correspond to any
of the structural forms commonly found in clusters. However, these latter clusters
are not simply disordered. High symmetry, magic number clusters are still present, the
most prominent of which is the 148-atom 
hexagonal barrel.
We relate these structural preferences back to the form of the interactions.
PACS: 61.46.+w – Nanoscale materials: clusters, nanoparticles, nanotubes, and nanocrystals / 36.40.Mr – Spectroscopy and geometrical structure of clusters
© EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag, 2003
