Empirical potentials for modelling solids, surfaces and clusters

A review of studies that have been made using the Murrell–Mottram two-plus-three-body empirical potential is presented. The explicit many-body nature of the potential is described and the fitting of these potentials to experimental data on one or more solid phases is detailed. Comparisons are made between potentials for various nonmetallic and metallic elements, from which trends in the parameters defining the potentials can clearly be seen. Examples of the many applications of these potentials to the study of solids (relative stabilities and phase transitions), surfaces (energies, relaxation and reconstructions), melting (both of the bulk and of the surfaces), and clusters (structures, growth, and dynamics) are given.