Reliability of two Embedded Atom Models for the Description of Ag@Au Nanoalloys

Abstract

The validation of embedded atom models (EAM) for modelling nanoalloys requires to verify both a faithful description of the individual phases and a convincing scheme for the mixed interactions. In this work, we present a systematic benchmarking of two widely adopted EAM parameterizations, i.e. by Foiles [S. M. Foiles et al. Phys. Rev. B 33, 7983 (1986)] and by Zhou [X. W. Zhou et al. Phys. Rev. B, 69, 144113 (2004)] with density functional theory calculations for the description of processes at Ag@Au nanoalloys surfaces and nanoclusters.