Title

First principles calculations of the electronic and geometric structure of Ag(27)Cu(7)nanoalloy

Authors

Authors

M. A. Ortigoza;T. S. Rahman

Comments

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Abbreviated Journal Title

Phys. Rev. B

Keywords

CATALYTIC-ACTIVITY; CU-AU; AG-CU; CLUSTERS; METAL; GOLD; NOBLE; THERMODYNAMICS; NANOSTRUCTURES; NANOPARTICLES; Physics, Condensed Matter

Abstract

Ab initio calculations of the structure and electronic density of states (DOS) of the perfect core-shell Ag(27)Cu(7) nanoalloy attest to its D(5h) symmetry and confirm that it has only six nonequivalent (two Cu and four Ag) atoms. The analyses of bond length, average formation energy, and heat of formation of Ag(27)Cu(7) and L1(2) bulk Ag-Cu alloys provide an explanation for the relative stability of the former with respect to the other nanoalloys in the same family. The highest occupied molecular orbital-lowest unoccupied molecular orbital gap is found to be 0.77 eV, which is in agreement with previous results. The analyses of the DOS of Ag(27)Cu(7), L1(2) Ag-Cu alloys, and related systems provide insight into the effects of low coordination, contraction or expansion, and the presence of foreign atoms on the DOS of Cu and Ag. While some characteristics of the DOS are reminiscent of those of the phonon-stable L1(2) Ag-Cu alloys, the Cu and Ag states hybridize significantly in Ag(27)Cu(7), compensating for the d-band narrowing that each atom undergoes and hindering the dip in the DOS found in the bulk alloys. Charge density plots of Ag(27)Cu(7) provide further insight into the relative strengths of the various interatomic bonds. Our results for the electronic and geometric structures of this nanoalloy can be explained in terms of length and strength hierarchies of the bonds, which may have implications also for the stability of alloys in any phase or size.

Journal Title

Physical Review B

Volume

77

Issue/Number

19

Publication Date

1-1-2008

Document Type

Article

Language

English

First Page

14

WOS Identifier

WOS:000256971600112

ISSN

1098-0121

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