Icosahedron-fcc transition size by molecular dynamics simulation of Lennard-Jones clusters at a finite temperature.

We studied finite-temperature ensembles of solid clusters produced by cooling liquid droplets either by evaporation or by a thermostat through a molecular dynamics calculation using the Lennard-Jones potential. The ensembles consist of either single or binary component clusters with 25% of the atoms 8% smaller in diameter than the other 75%. These clusters (380 clusters in total) exhibit various structures in the size range of n=160-2200, where n is the number of atoms in a cluster. For increasing size, the clusters show a gradual transition from icosahedral to a variety of structures: decahedral, face centered cubic, a small amount of hexagonal, and some icosahedral structures. They are asymmetrical or faulted. Electron diffraction patterns calculated with average structure factors of clusters after grouping them into several size regions are very similar to those experimentally observed. The size transition is around n=450 for single component clusters whatever the cooling process, evaporation or thermostat. This size is smaller than the experimental transition size estimated for argon clusters formed in a supersonic expansion. The transition size for binary component clusters is around n=600 for evaporative cooling, and larger for thermostatic cooling. The larger transition size found for the binary component clusters is consistent with the large icosahedral Au-Fe and Au-Cu alloy clusters observed experimentally.