We studied the thermal-stability of supported Au nanoparticles on the substrates of different binding strength to gold by Monte Carlo simulations. It has been revealed that the stable Au morphology is determined by the temperature and the binding strength. When heated on the strongly-binding substrates, the Au nanoparticles would wet the substrate completely and form monolayer. The stable Au layered structure of few layers can be formed by the incomplete wetting of clusters on the intermediate-binding substrates. The simulation results are in good agreement with pertinent experimental and theoretical results. Based on the simulation results and experimental observations, we find the strong linkage between the top edge sites and the activity TOF of low-temperature CO oxidation. We conclude that the top edges sites of Au layered structures are possible reactive sites. This study may provide new perspective for controlling morphology and understanding catalytic activity of supported metallic clusters. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.