Molecular dynamics study on the stability of amorphous Ar inside a nanopore

• Published in: Journal of non-crystalline solids Vol. 353; no. 32-40; pp. 3550 - 3554
• Main Authors: Nishio, K., Kōga, J., Yamaguchi, T., Yonezawa, F.
• Format: Journal Article Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 15.10.2007; Elsevier
• Subjects: Amorphous metals, metallic glasses; Amorphous semiconductors, metals, and alloys; Condensed matter: structure, mechanical and thermal properties; Disordered solids; Exact sciences and technology; Modeling and simulation; Molecular dynamics; Physics; Short-range order; Structure; Structure of solids and liquids; crystallography; Modeling and simulation; Amorphous metals, metallic glasses; 64.70.Dv; 64.70.Fx; Molecular dynamics; Short-range order; 61.46.1w; Structure; 61.43.Gt; 61.43.Gt; 61.46.1w; 64.70.Dv; 64.70.Fx; Confinement; Annealing; Crystallization; Molecular dynamics method; metallic glasses; Modeling and simulation; Molecular dynamics; Structure; Short-range order; Nanoporous materials; Modelling; Phase stability; Amorphous metals; Argon
• ISSN: 0022-3093; 1873-4812
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jnoncrysol.2007.05.114

Confined solids often show unusual behavior not seen in the bulk solids. In the present paper, we report on molecular dynamics simulations which show that amorphous Ar characterized by local icosahedral configurations is stable inside a nanopore of 3.4nm in diameter. Although bulk amorphous Ar is vulnerable in the sense that it easily crystallizes after the annealing at 48K for only 0.3ns or less, no crystallization is observed in the annealing simulations of confined amorphous Ar for 40ns or more. The origin of the high stability of confined amorphous Ar is discussed.