Amorphization mechanism of icosahedral metal nanoclusters

The use molecular dynamics simulations and density functional calculations for the investigation of amorphization mechanism of icosahedral Pt nanoclusters, was discussed. The mechanism involving rosette like structural transformation at fivefold vertices was reported. A fivefold vertex was transformed into a hexagonal ring. It was observed that for icosahedral Pt nanoclusters, this transformation was associated with an energy gain, which resulted in structures having low symmetry at icosahedral magic numbers.