Molecular Dynamics Studies of the Coalescence of Silver Clusters

The coalescence of two silver clusters was studied using molecular dynamics simulations governed by the cluster Sutton−Chen potential. These simulations were carried out for 10 systems with the silver clusters consisting of 2−8 and 19 atoms colliding at different kinetic energies and initial orientations. The products are mostly nonreactive product for Ag 2 + Ag and Ag n + Ag n with n = 2−4. This indicates that the nucleation is dominant in the coalescence of the systems consisting of 8 or less Ag atoms. The studies of Ag n + Ag n with n = 7, 8, and 19 revealed that the coalescence product, i.e., Ag 2 n, forms at all cases. This illustrates that the cluster growth is dominant in the coalescence of the systems consisting of 14 or more Ag atoms.