Size, shape, and dimension effects on the melting temperature of metallic nanocrystals

Abstract

Melting is the most common phenomenon in nature and one of the most important properties of metallic materials. Exploring the size D, shape α, and dimension d effects on the melting temperature Tm of nanocrystals is of great significance for the design, fabrication, and application of quantum devices. In this work, by redefining the critical diameter D0 and introducing shape factor α, a unified model without any adjustable parameters has been developed to describe the Tm(D, α, d) function. The model is compared with the available experimental and simulation data of Cu, Pd, In, Pb, Au, Ag, and Ni nanocrystals and other theoretical works, and a consistent agreement is obtained, which verifies the accuracy of the prediction. This model is also compared with other theoretical works, and we find that it agrees well with Lu’s model, while the BOLS method underestimates the melting point. This work not only gives a new perspective on the relationship between size, shape, dimension, and melting temperature but also provides theoretical guidance for the design and optimization of low-dimensional quantum devices.