https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2007-00167-8
Deposition of Ni13 and Cu13 clusters on Ni(111) and Cu(111) surfaces
Physical and Theoretical Chemistry, University of Saarland, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany
Corresponding authors: a elli@springborg.pc.uni-sb.de - b deni@springborg.pc.uni-sb.de - c m.springborg@mx.uni-saarland.de - d vg.grigoryan@mx.uni-saarland.de
Received:
30
January
2007
Revised:
28
March
2007
Published online:
23
May
2007
The soft deposition of Ni13 and Cu13 clusters on Ni(111) and Cu(111) surfaces is studied by means of constant-energy molecular-dynamics simulations. The atomic interactions are described by the Embedded Atom Method. It is shown that the shape of the nickel clusters deposited on Cu(111) surfaces remains rather intact, while the copper clusters impacting on Ni(111) surfaces collapse forming double and triple layered products. Furthermore, it is found that for an impact energy of 0.5 eV/atom the structures of all investigated clusters show the lowest similarity to the original structures, except for the case of nickel clusters deposited on a Cu(111) surface. Finally, it is demonstrated that when cluster and substrate are of different materials, it is possible to control whether the deposition results in largely intact clusters on the substrate or in a spreading of the clusters. This separation into hard and soft clusters can be related to the relative cohesive energy of the crystalline materials.
PACS: 61.46.+w – Nanoscale materials / 36.40.-c – Atomic and molecular clusters / 68.65.-k – Low-dimensional, mesoscopic, and nanoscale systems: structure and nonelectronic properties / 31.15.Ct – Semi-empirical and empirical calculations (differential overlap, Huckel, PPP methods, etc.)
© EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag, 2007
