Modelling Cu, Ag and Au surfaces using empirical potentials

Empirical potential energy functions, comprising two- and three-body terms, have been derived for copper, silver and gold. These potentials reproduce the experimental energies and relaxations of the (111), (110) and (100) surfaces of the fcc solid, to a high degree of accuracy and correctly predict the 1 × 2 reconstruction of the (110) surface of gold.