Cluster Modeling of Nickel-Gold-Copper Plasmas*

We extend our research on the properties of metallic materials in this paper on the physics and chemistry of small Ni_lAu_mCu_n clusters (1=< l =<.8; 1=< m =<8; 1=< n =<.8). Nickel-gold mixtures and alloys are of considerable interest for applications such as catalysts for CO Oxidation and Water-Gas Shift Reactions, catalysts for self-assembled growth of highly ordered silicon nanotubes (SiNT), and the manufacture of metal-insulator-metal (MIM) diodes. We used a combination of theoretical techniques, including ab-initio Density Functional Theory (DFT) and Pseudo Potential Methods (PPM), to the calculate the relevant physical and chemical properties of these clusters. Properties reported here include binding energies, optimal geometries, and bond-lengths for the clusters. We examined both neutral and ionic clusters. We propose some laboratory experiments that might help in testing our theoretical results. Finally, we consider the possible implication of this work for the internal composition of neutron stars and other exotic astronomical objects.