Molecular Dynamics Studies of the Coalescence of Silver Clusters

Abstract

The coalescence of two silver clusters was studied using molecular dynamics simulations governed by the cluster Sutton−Chen potential. These simulations were carried out for 10 systems with the silver clusters consisting of 2−8 and 19 atoms colliding at different kinetic energies and initial orientations. The products are mostly nonreactive product for Ag2 + Ag and Agn + Agn with n = 2−4. This indicates that the nucleation is dominant in the coalescence of the systems consisting of 8 or less Ag atoms. The studies of Agn + Agn with n = 7, 8, and 19 revealed that the coalescence product, i.e., Ag2n, forms at all cases. This illustrates that the cluster growth is dominant in the coalescence of the systems consisting of 14 or more Ag atoms.