Melting and Freezing of Free Silver Nanoclusters

The melting and freezing with two different cooling rates of AgN (N= 140, 360, 532, 784, and 952) nanoclusters are simulated by using molecular dynamics technique with the frame work of embedded atom method. The potential energy as a function of temperature is obtained and the structural details are analyzed. The results reveal that the melting and freezing temperature increases almost linearly with the atom number of the clusters except for Ag360. All the silver nanoclusters have negative heat capacity around the phase transition temperature, and the clusters with slow cooling rate have icosahedral structure at 300 K.