SIMULATION OF THE COALESCENCE PROCESS OF GOLD NANOPARTICLES BY MONTE-CARLO METHOD

Abstract

The simulation of the coalescence process of gold nanoparticles for different initial configuration by Monte-Carlo method was carried out. The interaction between nanoparticles was described by many-body Gupta potential. It was determined that in some cases the nanoparticles coalescence could happen under much lower temperatures than the temperature of crystal-liquid phase transition for the current size of nanoparticles. Moreover, the coalescence doesn’t happen at all at certain distances between nanoparticles of an initial configuration. The evolution of the neck formed at the coalescence of different-sized particles was investigated.

Keywords

• gold nanoparticles
• coalescence
• monte-carlo method
• gupta potential
• phase transition
• neck