Skip to main content
Article
Equilibrium shapes of facetted 3D metal nanoclusters intercalated near the surface of layered materials
Ames Laboratory Accepted Manuscripts
  • King Lai, Iowa State University and Ames Laboratory
  • Ann Lii-Rosales, Iowa State University and Ames Laboratory
  • James W. Evans, Iowa State University
Publication Date
8-6-2020
Department
Ames Laboratory; Chemistry; Physics and Astronomy
OSTI ID+
1607928
Report Number
IS-J 10252
DOI
10.1088/1361-648X/aba316
Journal Title
Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter
Abstract

Experimental studies indicate that 3D crystalline metal nanoclusters (NCs) intercalated under the surface of graphite have flat-topped equilibrated shapes. We characterize the shapes of these facetted NCs sandwiched between a blanketing graphene layer and the underlying graphite substrate. Specifically, we focus on the cases of fcc Cu and hcp Fe NCs. The analysis involves numerical minimization of the system energy for a specified NC volume and NC height, the latter corresponding to the separation between parallel top and bottom facets. Our numerical analysis quantifies how the distance of the side facet planes from center of the nanocluster varies linearly with a natural characteristic linear dimension of the nanocluster. Calculated shapes of fcc Cu and hcp Fe NCs are consistent with the hexagonal footprints observed in scanning tunneling microscopy studies.

DOE Contract Number(s)
AC02-07CH11358
Language
en
Publisher
Iowa State University Digital Repository, Ames IA (United States)
Citation Information
King Lai, Ann Lii-Rosales and James W. Evans. "Equilibrium shapes of facetted 3D metal nanoclusters intercalated near the surface of layered materials" Vol. 32 Iss. 44 (2020) p. 445001
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/james-evans/258/