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Determination of main structural compositions of nanoalloy clusters of Cu x Au y ( x + y ≤ 30) using a genetic algorithm approach
Author(s) -
Lordeiro R. A.,
Guimarães F. F.,
Belchior J. C.,
Johnston R. L.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
international journal of quantum chemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.484
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1097-461X
pISSN - 0020-7608
DOI - 10.1002/qua.10660
Subject(s) - nanoclusters , crystallography , chemistry , spectral line , atomic physics , physics , quantum mechanics , organic chemistry
The structures of various compositions of nanoalloy clusters Cu x Au y ( x + y ≤ 30) were determined using the recently developed molecular genetic algorithm. For compositions up to 18 atoms the algorithm found the global minima in all five runs. For clusters with less than 12 atoms, pure Au clusters are most stable. As the total number of atoms increases, clusters with one, two, three, or four Cu atoms become most stable. It has been observed for larger clusters that there is a tendency for structures based on Cu cores surrounded by Au atoms. The calculated second differences in binding energies are in fair agreement with experimental mass spectra for some nuclearities. Finally, the extrapolated cohesive energies for nanoalloys ((Cu 3 Au) m , (CuAu 3 ) m , and (CuAu) m ) gave an average relative error of 11%, compared with the bulk alloys, whereas for the nanoclusters (Au N and Cu N ) the error was less than 6%. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem 95: 112–125, 2003