Effect of incident energy on the configuration of Fe–Al nanoparticles, a molecular dynamics simulation of impact deposition
Abstract
The impact deposition of Al (or Fe) atoms on the rhombohedron of Fe (or the truncated octahedron of Al) nanoparticles is investigated by performing a molecular dynamics simulation using the embedded atom method. These simulations are performed in different incident energies (from 10 eV to 50 eV). The dependence of the incident energy of deposited atoms on the growth configurations of Fe–Al nanoparticles is analyzed. For the deposition of Al atoms on the Fe nanoparticle, some Al atoms are incorporated into the Fe core as the incident energy of Al increases. A nanoparticle configuration with Fe-core and Al-shell is usually observed at all incident energies considered. In this case, the substrate Fe atoms and the deposited Al atoms are arranged in body-centered cubic configuration. For the impact deposition of Fe atoms on the Al nanoparticle, an onion-like nanoparticle is observed at incident energy of 10 eV. A configuration with Al-shell and alloyed Fe–Al core is obtained as the incident energy increases. This study proposes a method of artificially controlling nanoalloy configuration.