Surface Binding Stability of Metallic Nanoparticles

Abstract

In scientific literature and technological researches, nanomaterials and especially nanoparticles have become the main interesting frontiers of science, due to their small size and special novel properties with respect to macroscale materials, which neither meso- nor microscale materials could have such properties. However, their fundamental properties are still unknown and most of our knowledge is only based on experimental observations. The surface instability is the most important parameter which affects major physico-chemical, engineering, and biological behaviors of nanoparticles, This information comes directly from their binding (cohesion) energy. Here we will present a simple thermodynamical-based theory for surface binding energy of metallic nanoparticles containing the size factor. A series of calculation will be presented for four different metallic nanoparticles (Al, Ag, Ga, and W), and the case of W metallic nanoparticles will show that the computational results fit the experimental observations quite well, which enables us to explain the special behavior of nanoparticles through surface binding theory.