Methodological approach to study energetic and structural properties of nanostructured cadmium sulfide by using ab-initio molecular dynamics simulations

摘要

A single wurtzite phase of cadmium sulfide cluster is investigated by ab-initio molecular dynamics simulations at different temperatures, ranging from 100 K to 600 K. In this study we propose a possible procedure to characterize the CdS quantum dots system by means of molecular dynamics calculations using a standard Car-Parrinello scheme. In order to ensure the accuracy of the numerical approach, preliminary calculations to test pseudopotentials, cutoff and box size on both single atoms systems and Cd-Cd, S-S, Cd-S dimers have been performed. Calculated binding energies and bond lengths are obtained in good agreement with experimental data. Subsequently, an uncapped CdS cluster with size below 2 nm, 48 atoms of cadmium and 48 atoms of sulfur, in a wurtzite geometry was structurally optimized to minimize internal stresses. The CdS cluster has been carefully characterized structurally at several temperatures up to T = 600 K. At the temperature of 340 K atomic diffusion on the surface allows the onset of a new stable atomic configuration.