Oxidation of metal nanoparticles with the grain growth in the oxide

Abstract

Oxidation of metals can be influenced by the presence of electric field, lattice strain, rearrangement of the oxide structure, and formation of cracks in an oxide. The understanding of the interplay of these factors is still incomplete. We focus on the scenario including the oxide-grain growth. The model used implies that the whole process is limited by diffusion of metal or oxygen atoms along the grain boundaries as it was originally proposed by Fehlner and Mott for macroscopic samples. For nanoparticles, the model predicts a transition from the power-law oxide growth at low conversion to slower growth at high conversion.