Modeling cohesive energy and melting temperature of nanocrystals

A model has been developed to account for the size dependent cohesive energy and melting temperature of nanocrystals. This model can deal with the thermodynamic properties of nanoparticles (spherical and non-spherical), nanowires and nanofilms with free surface or non-free surface (embedded in a matrix). The cohesive energy depression of nanocrystals has been predicted, and the conditions of superheating are obtained. It is found that the present theoretical results are consistent with the available experimental values.     

New surface structure analysis of Ag-Si phase by quantitative auger electron spectroscopy method

Ag or Au was deposited on a clean Si substrate at room temperature. These systems, Ag/Si and Au/Si, were annealed at various temperatures or various heating times. Due to the annealing, Ag or Au diffused into Si and/or Si diffused into the metal. The changes of the surface composition are analyzed by a quantitative Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES) method which is newly developed as a non-destructive method. In the case of Ag/Si, Ag migrated into the Si substrate and/or Si diffused into Ag. Then, Ag-Si solid solution was produced. After the annealing, the Ag/Si system is changed into Ag/(Ag-Si)/Si of the three-phase structure. In the case of Au/Si (Au film thickness < 15 Å), the Au film thickness became thinner by annealing. The Au/Si system always keeps the Au/Si phase after annealing, while there was no Au-Si solution area. The difference between the Ag/(Ag-Si)/Si and the Au/Si structure is attributed to the reason that Au diffuses more quickly than Ag into the Si substrate. AES results after annealing cannot be explained by the model of the formation of the three-dimensional island structure which is commonly referenced.     

Size- and shape-dependent energetics of nanocrystal interfaces: experiment and simulation

We study the interface energetics of Ag nanocrystals on a H-passivated Si(111) surface by a transmission electron microscopy experiment and molecular dynamics simulations. The annealed nanocrystals are oriented with Ag(111)||Si(111). Azimuthally, epitaxy is preferred for nanocrystals with an interface larger than a coincident-site-lattice (CSL) cell. The equilibrium orientation, or interface energy minimum, depends on the interface size and shape. For interfaces approaching a CSL cell in size ( approximately 2 nm nanocrystals), fluctuations of a single atom at an interface can lead to large variations in nanocrystal orientations.     

Fabrication and surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) of Ag/Au bimetallic films on Si substrates

Ag films on Si substrates were fabricated by immersion plating and served as sacrificial materials for preparation of Ag/Au bimetallic films by galvanic replacement reaction. The formation procedure of films on the surface of Si was studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), which revealed Ag films with island and dendritic morphologies experienced novel structural evolution process during galvanic replacement reaction, and nanostructures with holes were produced within the resultant Ag/Au bimetallic films. SERS activity both of sacrificial Ag films and resultant Ag/Au bimetallic films was investigated by using crystal violet as an analyte. It has been shown that SERS signals increased with the process of galvanic substitution and reached intensity significantly stronger than that obtained from pure Ag films.     

The effect of the averaged structural and energetic features on the cohesive energy of nanocrystals

The size dependency of the cohesive energy of nanocrystals is obtained in terms of their averaged structural and energetic properties, which are in direct proportion with their cohesive energies. The significance of the effect of the geometrical shape of nanoparticles on their thermal stability has been discussed. The model has been found to have good prediction for the case of Cu and Al nanoparticles, with sizes in the ranges of 1–22 nm and 2–22 nm, respectively. Defining a new parameter, named as the surface-to-volume energy-contribution ratio, the relative thermal stabilities of different nanoclusters and their different surface-crystalline faces are discussed and compared to the molecular dynamic (MD) simulation results of copper nanoclusters. Finally, based on the size dependency of the cohesive energy, a formula for the size-dependent diffusion coefficient has been presented which includes the structural and energetic effects. Using this formula, the faster-than-expected interdiffusion/alloying of Au_(core)–Ag_(shell) nanoparticles with the core–shell structure, the Au-core diameter of 20 nm and the Ag-shell thickness of 2.91 nm, has been discussed and the calculated diffusion coefficient has been found to be consistent with its corresponding experimental value.     

The temperature dependence of the equation of state at high pressures revisited: a universal model for solids

A general method to include temperature effects into the equation of state (EOS) of solids is discussed. A universal model based on a pseudo-spinodal approach is used to predict the pressure and temperature dependencies of the thermodynamic properties for a variety of solids: n-H₂, Ar, Kr, Xe, NaCl, LiF, NaF, KCl, CsCl, Li, Na, K, Rb, Cs, Al, Fe, Cu, Zn, Ag, Cd, Pt, Au, and Pb. The predictive capabilities of the complete EOS are discussed and compared with available models.     

LEED study of the epitaxial growth of the thin film Au(111)/Ag(111) system

An analysis of LEED data from the Ag(111) surface at room temperature and 5° ? Θ ? 16°, φ = 12° has been carried out in order to test three different model potentials for the exchange and correlation part of the one-electron LEED potential. Clean Au(111) surfaces have been grown on Ag(111) at room temperature at a deposition rate of 0.15 Å s^?1. Similar method of calculation and potentials have been employed for the Au overlay er on Ag(111). After the deposition of ? 2.5 monolayers of Au/Ag(111) the growth of Au can proceed in two different ways. One of them matches satisfactorily with the theoretical calculation for the Au(111) overlayer on Ag(111) following the fcc sequence. The other seems to be concerned with the diffusion of Ag during the Au growth. Similar curves have been obtained during the diffusion of Ag through 350 Å of Au(111).     

Array of double Au-Ag chains on the Si(5 5 7) surface

Using scanning tunneling microscopy we study the topographic properties of Ag structure on the Au induced, highly ordered Si(5 5 7) surface. Topography measurements show that a small amount of Ag (0.25 ML) deposited on that surface leads to considerable modifications of the one-dimensional structure induced by Au atoms. In particular, we observe two different chains on each terrace, which are identified as Si adatoms and Ag chain structures. The STM topography of those chains strongly depends on the bias voltage, indicating an important role of electronic effects in this system.     

金属-半导体超晶格中界面电荷的生成机理

采用LMTO ASA能带计算方法，研究(Si₂)₃ (2Al) ₆ (001),(Ge₂)₃ (2Al) ₆ (001),(Ge₂)₃ (2Au) ₆ (001)和(Ge₂)₃ (2Ag) ₆ (001)超晶格中半导体界面电荷Qss的生成机理，结 关键词： Schottky势垒 界面电荷     

Calculation of the surface energy of fcc metals with modified embedded-atom method

The surface energies for 38 surfaces of fcc metals Cu, Ag, Au, Ni, Pd, Pt, A1, Pb, Rh and Ir have been calculated by using the modified embedded-atom method. The results show that, for Cu, Ag, Ni, A1, Pb and Ir, the average values of the surface energies are very close to the polycrystalline experimental data. For all fcc metals, as predicted, the close-packed (111) surface has the lowest surface energy. The surface energies for the other surfaces increase linearly with increasing angle between the surfaces (hkl) and (111). This can be used to estimate the relative values of the surface energy.     

Bond theory model to study cohesive energy,thermal expansion coefficient and specific heat of nanosolids

The fraction of surface atoms and the dangling bonds on the surface affect the thermodynamical properties of the nanostructured solids. A bond theory model is extended to study the size dependent thermodynamical properties at nanoscale. The theory is applied to analysis the size and shape dependence of cohesive energy, thermal expansion coefficient and specific heat of Ag, Au, Cu and Se nanosolids. The relaxation factor is incorporated at low dimension of nanosolids, which is expressed as the ratio of dangling bonds and the total bonds of atoms. It is predicted that the cohesive energy decreases with decrease in particle size. On the same ground, the model is proposed to analyze the thermal expansion coefficient and specific heat of the nanomaterials. It is reported that the thermal expansion coefficient and specific heat increase as particle size decreases. The predictions agree well with available experimental or simulation results.     

A型沸石中Lwenstein规则的能学研究

通过模拟退火方法,使用协合分子力学场对Ｓｉ,Ａｌ分布分别为４：０序列,两种３：１序和随机分布的ＮａＡ型沸石结构进行了能量最小化计算,获得了不同结构的位能及其生成热大小,计算结果表明,４：０序结构的位能和生成热在所讨论的几种序结构中最低,从而在理论上证实了Ｌｏｅｗｅｎｓｔｅｉｎ规则是分子筛结构中能量最小化的自然结果。     

FCC金属空位的MAEAM理论研究

应用涉及更远邻原子的改进分析型嵌入原子方法（MAEAM）计算了面心立方（fcc）金属（Ag,Al,Au,Cu,Ir,Ni,Pd,Pt,Rh）的空位性能。在MAEAM计算中,考虑了远邻原子相互作用和单空位迁移能,对两体势进行了坚挺处理,并采用新的截尾函数和加强光滑连接条件对两体势作了截尾处理。同时为了更好的符合面心立方晶体的结合能、弹性常数和平衡条件,调整了多体势的模型常数。未弛豫空位性能计算中考虑了两体势的截尾距离和电子密度分布函数的截尾距离之间近邻原子的作用以及双空位迁移途径周围的原子非对称分布。结果与其它方法计算结果基本一致,但更加接近实验值。对双空位迁移能的计算结果有利地说明了fcc金属双空位5种迁移途径的扩散机制。     

衬底钝化处理对CsPbBr3 量子点薄膜发光稳定性影响

钙钛矿量子点因具有发光谱线窄、发光效率高、发光波长可调谐等优异的光学性能,在照明、显示、激光和太阳能电池等领域得到了广泛研究。然而,钙钛矿材料的稳定性问题,一直制约着其在光电器件中的应用。其中,钙钛矿材料在空气中受潮易分解的不稳定性尤为突出,这将严重影响其发光性质。为此,研究人员采用多种手段来改善钙钛矿材料的稳定性。目前,常见的方法是将一些具有疏水性的聚合物材料（例如POSS,PMMA等）引入到钙钛矿纳米晶中,或将钙钛矿纳米晶嵌入到介孔二氧化硅材料中,避免钙钛矿纳米晶暴露于空气中破坏其结构,以此来增强钙钛矿材料的发光稳定性。此外,钝化处理钙钛矿纳米晶表面,也是改善钙钛矿发光稳定性的一种常用方法。这些方法虽然在一定程度上可以改善钙钛矿的发光稳定性,但是在与有机物合成的过程中不免会引入其他有机官能团,介孔二氧化硅的引入,其处理方式相对复杂,而对钙钛矿纳米晶表面的钝化处理会破坏材料的原有结构。以上问题,都会影响钙钛矿的发光性质,不利于其在光电器件中的应用。硅（Si）具有低成本、大尺寸、高质量、导电好等优点,常被选作钙钛矿量子点光电器件的衬底材料。但是,由于Si衬底长时间暴露于空气,其表面易形成一层具有硅烷醇基团（Si-OH）的亲水性薄膜,这将对硅基钙钛矿器件的稳定性产生影响。因此,对Si表面进行钝化处理,破坏其表面Si-OH键,可以降低衬底表面的亲水性,增强疏水性,从而提高钙钛矿材料在器件中的稳定性。本研究使用氢氟酸（HF）对Si衬底表面进行钝化处理,发现钝化处理后的Si衬底表面与水的接触角由50.4°逐渐增大至87.7°,表明Si衬底表面由亲水性逐渐转变为疏水性。利用场致发射扫描电子显微镜(FE-SEM)测试发现,钝化处理后的Si衬底表面变粗糙,并且其表面上的CsPbBr₃量子点(CsPbBr₃ QDs)相对于未处理表面的分散性较好。利用光致发光(PL)光谱研究不同钝化处理时间的Si衬底表面上的CsPbBr₃ QDs薄膜的发光性质。其中,处理与未处理的Si衬底表面上CsPbBr₃QDs薄膜的PL积分强度随功率变化拟合值分别为1.12和1.203,表明其发光机制为激子发光。温度依赖性的PL光谱分析显示,随着温度的升高（10～300 K）,由于晶格热膨胀使CsPbBr₃ QDs带隙增大,发光峰位逐渐蓝移。并且,随着衬底钝化处理时间的增加,CsPbBr₃ QDs薄膜的发光热稳定性逐渐增强,最佳热稳定性可达220 K。而时间依赖性的PL光谱则进一步说明,钝化处理后的Si衬底表面CsPbBr₃QDs薄膜发光的时间稳定性逐渐增强,最高发光时间稳定性可达15 d。因此,通过简单而有效的对Si衬底表面进行钝化处理,可以有效减少了Si表面亲水基团,提高CsPbBr₃QDs薄膜的发光稳定性,为增强钙钛矿量子点在光电器件中的稳定性应用提供了新的研究思路。     

Atomic structure of two-dimensional binary surface alloys: Si(111)-√21 × √21 superstructure

The atomic structures of Au and Ag co-adsorption-induced √21 × √21 superstructure on a Si(111) surface, i.e., (Si(111)-√21 × √21-(Au, Ag)), where the Si(111)-5 × 2-Au surface is used as a substrate, have been investigated using reflection high-energy positron diffraction (RHEPD) and photoemission spectroscopy. From core-level spectra, we determined the chemical environments of Ag and Au atoms present in the Si(111)-√21 × √21-(Au, Ag) surface. From the rocking curve and pattern analyses of RHEPD, we found that the atomic coordinates of the Au and Ag atoms were approximately the same as those of the Au and Ag atoms in other Si(111)-√21 × √21 surfaces with different stoichiometries. On the basis of the core-level and RHEPD results, we revealed the atomic structure of the Si(111)-√21 × √21-(Au, Ag) surface.     

Carrier conduction in a Si-nanocrystal-based single-electron transistor-I. Effect of gate bias

We have successfully fabricated a single-electron transistor based on undoped Si nanocrystals having radii of approximately 3 nm. Gate voltage oscillation was observed from low temperature to room temperature and Coulomb diamonds found to decrease in size with increasing gate voltage. The 3D calculation of the energy band structure of the Si nanocrystals and the interactions among the nanocrystals shows the increase of the quantum confinement effect when the dimensionality of the system decreases. At the same time the reduction in the dimensionality causes a decrease in the interaction among nanocrystals in an exponential manner. The carrier transport properties observed experimentally have been well understood in terms of carrier tunneling and Coulomb blockade effects. It is concluded that for the present single-electron transistor, the energy separation of the first excited sublevel and the ground state is rather large so that the Coulomb diamonds observed in the carrier transport characteristics are determined mainly by the Coulomb charging effect.     

Impurity doping into Mg2Sn: A first-principles study

We studied the formation energy and atomic structure of impurities in Mg₂Sn using first-principles plane-wave total energy calculations. Twenty elements, namely H, Li, Na, K, Rb, Sc, Y, La, Cu, Ag, Au, B, Al, Ga, In, N, P, As, Sb, and Bi, were selected as the impurity species. We considered structural relaxation of the atoms within the second nearest neighbors of the impurity atom in the 48-atom supercell. The results of the formation energy calculations suggested that Sc, Y, La, P, As, Sb, and Bi are good n-type dopants whereas Li and Na are good p-type dopants. The electrical properties of Li-, Na-, and Ga-doped Mg₂Sn and La-doped Mg₂(Si, Sn) composites reported previously can be explained by the low formation energies of Li, Na, Ga, and La in Mg₂Sn.     

Shape and size dependent thermophysical properties of nanocrystals

A theoretical model based on thermodynamic variables is employed in the present work to study the thermophysical properties of nanomaterials of different shapes and sizes. The model proposed by Qi and Wang [19] is applied to determine the cohesive energy of nanomaterial. The number of atoms on the surface to the total number of atoms in nanosolid is considered in terms of shape factor (α) and size of nanocrystal. The variation of cohesive energy?(E_cn?), melting temperature?(T_mN), Debye temperature (θ_DN), Specific heat capacity (C_pN), and Energy band gap (E_gN?) is studied for spherical, regular tetrahedral, regular hexahedral and regular octahedral nanocrystals. The cohesive energy, melting temperature and Debye temperature are found to decrease as the grain size is reduced. However, the energy band gap and specific heat capacity are found to increase with decrease of grain size of nanomaterial. The results achieved in the present study are compared with the available experimental and also with those calculated from other theoretical models. The consistency between the present calculated results and the results reported earlier confirms the validity of the present model theory to explain the shape and size dependence of thermophysical properties of nanomaterials.     

Temperature effect on elastic modulus of thin films and nanocrystals

The stability of nanoscale devices is directly related to elasticity and the effect of temperature on the elasticity of thin films and nanocrystals. The elastic instability induced by rising temperature will cause the failure of integrated circuits and other microelectronic devices in service. The temperature effect on the elastic modulus of thin films and nanocrystals is unclear although the temperature dependence of the modulus of bulk materials has been studied for over half a century. In this paper, a theoretical model of the temperature-dependent elastic modulus of thin films and nanocrystals is developed based on the physical definition of the modulus by considering the size effect of the related cohesive energy and the thermal expansion coefficient. Moreover, the temperature effect on the modulus of Cu thin films is simulated by the molecular dynamics method. The results indicate that the elastic modulus decreases with increasing temperature and the rate of the modulus decrease increases with reducing thickness of thin films. The theoretical predictions based on the model are consistent with the results of computational simulations, semi-continuum calculations and the experimental measurements for Cu, Si thin films and Pd nanocrystals.     

Photoemission investigation on the oxidation of Si(111)Ag interfaces and its relation to the interface structure

We give the first photoemission results on the enhancement of Si reactivity to oxygen when a noble metal (Ag) is present. The tunability of synchrotron radiation (SR) has been used to get high surface sensitivity and to take advantage of cross section energy dependence. We show that when one monolayer of Ag is deposited onto Si(111), the exposure to oxygen (30 × 10⁶L) originates the overgrowth of an oxide phase which is basically SiO₂. This indicates that Ag breaks the sp³ configuration of Si atoms with a consequent dramatic increase in the Si reactivity. This behaviour rules out the model of Ag adsorbed on top of Si with an atomically abrupt interface.