Efficient molecular dynamics simulation of 2D penta-silicene materials using machine learning potentials

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the use of machine learning interatomic potentials for efficient and accurate molecular dynamics simulations of 2D penta-silicene, revealing thermodynamic properties and structural stability.

Contribution

It introduces a novel application of MLIPs to simulate penta silicene, providing detailed thermodynamic and structural insights with high accuracy and computational efficiency.

Findings

Melting points of 632 K (NVT) and 606 K (NPT) identified.

Radial distribution function peaks at 2.275 Å and 2.375 Å observed.

Structural stability confirmed through 10 ps on-the-fly ML simulations.

Abstract

Machine Learning Interatomic Potentials (MLIPs) are a modern computational method that allows achieving near-quantum mechanical accuracy (DFT) while still describing large-scale systems in molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. In this work, we use MLIP from DeepMD package and the classical Tersoff potential for SiC (Tersoff.SiC potential) to fully and accurately describe atomic interactions and apply them to molecular dynamics simulations of penta silicene sheet. The results show that the melting points (T$_g$) temperatures of the system in the canonical NVT and isobaric NPT sets are 632 K and 606 K, while the Tersoff.SiC potential have the high melting points, respectively. In addition, the radial distribution function exhibits characteristic peaks at interatomic distances of 2.275 \AA \text{} and 2.375 \AA, while the Tersoff.SiC potential only describe distance of 2.375 \AA. Furthermore, penta silicene was also simulated using on-the-fly machine learning for 10 ps to evaluate the structural stability of the system. This study investigates the thermodynamic properties of two-dimensional penta silicene sheets with pentagonal structures using a high-precision, cost-effective method, contributing further evidence to support experimental synthesis and opening up potential future applications of this material.