Analysis of the Processes of Structural Formation in Small Silver Clusters for the Application in Plasmonic
Currently, silver, including nanostructured, is widely used in many industries due to its unique heat and electrical conductivity, as well as strong catalytic activity. One of the new apE plications of silver nanoparticles is their use in plasmon applications, which are determined by the strong interaction between the electromagnetic wave and free electrons in nanostructures. Particles of a metal with a size smaller than the wavelengths of visible light can strongly absorb light due to the phenomenon of surface plasmon resonance, due to the collective oscillation of conduction electrons. The frequency and intensity of the plasmon resonance depends on the distribution of the polarization charge in the nanostructure, which, in turn, is determined by the shape and structure of the nanoparticle. Thus, control of the structure of the metallic nanostructure allows you to control the wavelengths of light that it dissipates and absorbs. Based on this, the boundaries of the thermal stability of the initial fcc phase in silver clusters up to 2.0 nm in size were investigated using the molecular dynamics method using the modified TBESMA potential. It is shown that at a silver nanoparticle size of more than 200 atoms, fcc cluster structure is thermally stable up to the melting point. For silver nanoparticles of smaller dimensions, numerous cases of a thermally induced change in the cluster structure were obE served. Thus, for the application of small silver clusters in plasmon applications, it is necessary to take into account the thermal stability of their cluster structure.