A model has been developed to account for the dependence of melting temperature on the size of nanosolids (nanoparticles, nanowires and nanofilms). In this model the effect of particle size and shape, lattice and surface packing factor, and the coordination number of the lattice and of the surface crystalline planes are considered. A general equation is proposed, having nonlinear form as a function of the reciprocal of nanosolid size. This model is consistent with reported experimental data for nanoparticles of In and Au, nanowires of Pb and In, and nanofilms of In.

The dependency of the surface-to-volume coordination number upon particle size has been obtained by an analytical function based upon our previous work, and a model for melting temperature as a function of size is presented. This expression for the melting temperature is a nonlinear relation in terms of the reciprocal of size. Also, the geometrical characteristics of nanoclusters have been applied to our general equation for the melting temperature of nanoparticles. It was found that the results of considering the geometrical characteristics of nanoclusters are in good agreement with the melting temperature achieved by the derived analytical function. Finally, this model has been compared with other theoretical models as well as the available experimental data. The predictions are consistent with the experimental data.

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