Nanocavity strengthening: Impact of the broken bonds at the negatively curved surfaces

Abstract

The atomistic origin of the atomic vacancy or nanocavity induced hardening in hollow nanotubes and nanoporous structures has long been a puzzle. An analysis from the perspective of bond-order–length-strength correlation mechanism [C. Q. Sun, Prog. Solid State Chem. 35, 1 (2007)] has led to solutions that show that the shortened and strengthened bonds between the undercoordinated atoms in the negatively curved surface skins dominate the observed nanocavity strengthening and thermal instability of the porous structures. It is suggested that the broken bond derived local strain and quantum trapping and the associated energy densification provide pinning centers for inhibiting atomic dislocations and that the broken bond induced cohesive energy dropping dominate the thermal instability. On the other hand, nanocavities also provide sites that initiate the structure failure under plastic deformation. The agreement between predictions and the experimentally observed size dependence of mechanical strength of some nanoporous materials and the well-known phenomenon of hollow tube strengthening evidences for the proposed mechanism.