Analysis of the chemical composition of Cu-Au nanoparticles during simulation of the process of gas-phase synthesis

Abstract

The process of synthesis of CuAu nanoclusters from a high-temperature gas phase was simulated. The molecular dynamics method was employed, 1124 Cu and Au atoms were used as the initial configuration. The computer model of synthesis from the gas phase was based on an experimental setup located at the Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics SB RAS. On the basis of the data obtained, conclusions were made concerning the real chemical composition of clusters at the final stage of formation. It is shown that clusters larger than 400–500 atoms adhere to the given target ratio. The maximum deviations from the target ratio were recorded only for atomic vapor of stoichiometric composition. In other cases, with a reduction in the percentage of gold atoms in the initial pair, the deviations of clusters from the required composition decreased. It was determined that the reason for this was a different crystal structure of the nanoparticles obtained by modeling.

Keywords

• nanotechnology
• nanopowders
• computer simulation
• tight-binding potential
• nanoparticles
• copper
• gold