English (United Kingdom)

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/featured_content/oa?rat=en

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/highlighted_journal/

Global: Zendy Tools annual

Presents the keyphrase highlighting as premium feature

Keyphrase Highlighting

Presents the summarisation as premium feature

Summarisation

Insights

Presents the pdf analysis as premium feature

PDF Analysis

Presents the zaia usage as premium feature

ZAIA

Global: Zendy Tools monthly

Global: Zendy Plus monthly

Presents the access of premium content as premium feature

Premium Content

Global: Zendy Plus annual

Global: Zendy Free Plan

Nanoclusters offer a fascinating possibility of studying the evolution of properties of a physical system by varying the number, size and inter-cluster separation of a given cluster to go from one limit to another. By systematically varying the inter-cluster separation in a nanocluster assembly of Ni 40 Pd 60  alloy, that is known to be a metal in bulk, we observe an unusual and hitherto unreported, spatial dimension change as well as a change in the transport mechanism. In the nanocluster form, the temperature dependent resistance shows an activated behavior for virtually all inter-cluster separations, contrary to, the bulk metallic behaviour. At large average inter-cluster separation, the transport happens via three dimensional Efros-Shklovskii hopping, due to the opening of a Coulomb gap at the Fermi surface. With a reduction in the inter-cluster separation, the transport mechanism changes from three dimensional Efros-Shklovskii hopping to that of a three dimensional Mott variable range hopping (VRH) due to the closing up of the gap. With a further reduction in average inter-cluster separation, the three dimensional Mott VRH changes to that of a two dimensional Mott VRH with additional signatures of an insulator to a weak metal-like transition in this particular assembly. So, nanoclusters offer a paradigm for studying the important problem of evolution of charge transport in physical systems with the possibility of directly tuning the average inter-cluster separation enabling the system to go from insulating to metallic limit via intermediate changes in the charge transport mechanism.

Inter-cluster separation induced change in charge transport mechanism in Ni40Pd60 nanoclusters