Effect of “Magic” fcc Numbers on the Stability of the Structure of Small Silver Nanoclusters

Plasmonic applications, which are determined by the strong interaction between an electromagnetic wave and free electrons in nanostructures, are among the possible applications of silver nanoparticles. It appears that the frequency and intensity of the plasmon resonance depend on the polarization charge distribution determined by the shape and structure of a nanoparticle. Consequently, the control of the structure of nanoclusters allows varying the wavelengths of light that are scattered or absorbed on them. In this work, the limits of the thermal stability of the initial amorphous phase in silver clusters with sizes smaller than 2.0 nm with the number of atoms corresponding to the “magic” numbers of the fcc structure are studied by the molecular dynamics method with the modified TB-SMA tight-binding potential. The results are compared with the data for a similar set of particles with the initial fcc structure. It is shown that the characters of thermally induced structural transitions in the studied groups of nanoclusters are drastically different. This property can allow fabricating small silver clusters with the required internal structure.