Influence of surface segregation on the elastic property of Pt–Ni alloy nanowires

Abstract

In this work, we examined the influence of surface segregation on the elastic property of Pt–Ni nanowires by comparing the Young’s modulus of the segregated and non-segregated nanowires calculated using density functional theory. For the Pt–Ni nanowires with three different cross-sectional shapes, it was found that the Young’s moduli of the segregated nanowires were higher than that of the non-segregated ones. Furthermore, our study suggests that the surface segregation process could change the atomic arrangements in the surface region, increase the number of Pt–Ni bonds across the outermost and second surface layers, and thus enhance the Young’s modulus of the segregated Pt–Ni nanowires.