Applied Surface Science, Vol.256, No.23, 6982-6985, 2010
Surface effect on the coalescence of Pt clusters: A molecular dynamics study
We have performed molecular dynamics simulations for Pt-N + Pt-N -> Pt-2N (N = 147, 324, 500,792), to investigate the effect of size and substrate on coalescence temperature. Our simulations show that platinum nanoclusters coalesce at the temperatures lower than the cluster melting point. The difference between coalescence and melting temperatures decreases with the increase in cluster size and presence of substrate. These thermal behaviors affect catalytical properties of nanoclusters and the substrate, as an environment, has major effect on activity of metal nanoclusters. (C) Published by Elsevier B.V.