Liquid Drop Model Explaining Melting Point Depression of Nanoparticles

Abstract

Nanoparticle research is an exciting field. Serving as a link between bulk materials and atoms, these materials, existing on a nanometre scale (10−9m), display some fascinating properties. One such property is the depression of melting point. As the particle size decreases, the melting temperature decreases dramatically. This article describes a model explaining the origin of this behaviour of nanomaterials (Figure 1). To reinforce the concept in the text and force the reader to think carefully about the quantitative aspects, short problems have been included in the end.