Surface energetic and bonding characteristics of tetrahexahedral platinum nanocrystals enclosed by high-index facets

Abstract

This paper uses a molecular static approach with a many-body potential to investigate the surface energetic and bonding characteristics of tetrahexahedral platinum nanocrystals enclosed by high-index facets such as {210}, {310}, {410}, {520} and {730}. It mainly focuses on the effect of crystal size and surface Miller index on these characteristics. The results show that the surface energy and dangling bond density increase with decreasing diameter of tetrahexahedral nanocrystals and generally show an order of {210} > {730} > {520} > {310} > {410}. However, this order is not valid at crystal sizes below 7 nm or so. The results of corresponding surfaces are also presented for comparison.