Instability of cuboctahedral copper clusters

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Abstract
Equilibrium structures of copper clusters up to 10 000 atoms are studied using molecular-dynamics and effective-medium theory. Icosahedral closed-shell clusters are most stable up to ∼2500 atoms and the Wulff polyhedra are favored for larger clusters. Cuboctahedral closed-shell clusters up to ∼2000 atoms are unstable. They undergo a nondiffusive transition to an icosahedral structure at low temperatures and melt directly above the fcc-cluster-melting temperature. The melting temperature decreases with decreasing cluster size but not as deeply as has been reported for pure metals.