  The freezing behavior of gold nanoclusters was studied by employing molecular
dynamics simulations based on a semi-empirical embedded-atom method.
Investigations of the gold nanoclusters revealed that, just after freezing,
ordered nano-surfaces with a fivefold symmetry were formed with interior atoms
remaining in the disordered state. Further lowering of temperatures induced
nano-crystallization of the interior atoms that proceeded from the surface
towards the core region, finally leading to an icosahedral structure. These
dynamic processes explain why the icosahedral cluster structure is dominantly
formed in spite of its energetic metastability.
