Formation of structure in small lead clusters under thermal effect

Abstract

The thermal effect on lead clusters with radii up to 5.5 nm has been investigated by the molecular dynamics method using a modified tight-binding potential TB-SMA. The melting of Pb nanoparticles of these sizes is strictly homogeneous, without the formation of a surface liquidlike layer. The primary fcc phase in the particles is retained upon heating in the overwhelming majority of model experiments. An analysis of the structure formation during crystallization has shown that structures with pentagonal symmetry are preferred for lead clusters in this case. It is noted that an increase in the nanoparticle size leads to the dominance of the dodecahedral structure over the icosahedral one.