Eur. Phys. J. D (2012) 66: 115
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2012-30054-0

Regular Article

Structure and thermal stability of AgCu chiral nanoparticles

Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Genova and IMEM/CNR, Via Dodecaneso 33, 16146 Genova, Italy

^a e-mail: ferrando@fisica.unige.it

Received: 22 January 2012
Received in final form: 29 February 2012
Published online: 17 May 2012

Abstract

The structure and thermal stability of AgCu core-shell chiral nanoparticles is investigated by means of global optimization searches and molecular-dynamics simulations within an atomistic model. The most energetically stable structures are searched for depending on the number N_Ag of Ag atoms in the outer shell. Both icosahedral and C₅ symmetry structures are considered. The thermal stability of the structures is studied for magic sizes and compositions by analyzing the melting transition. It is found that chiral shells are the most favourable in a wide range of N_Ag and that the structures present a notable thermal stability.