Investigation of the size- and morphology-dependence of surface thermodynamic properties of nano-silver

Abstract

Surface thermodynamic properties related to nanoparticles size and morphology generate significant influences on their thermodynamic behaviors in different physicochemical processes. Herein, the electrode potentials of Ag nanoelectrodes formed with various particle sizes and morphologies of nano-Ag were determined at varying temperatures. Based on the method of electrochemistry, the surface thermodynamic properties of nano-Ag were gotten and a comparison was made with theoretical results. It is revealed that with decreasing nano-Ag size, these surface thermodynamic properties become larger and correlate linearly with inverse particle size. Furthermore, for nanoparticles with the same equivalent size, the change regularity of surface Gibbs energy, enthalpy and entropy with morphology follow the same sequence as: cube > sphere > wire. This study is valuable to provide insights to the influence mechanisms and regularities of nanoparticle size and morphology on these properties.