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Size‐Dependence of the Melting Temperature of Individual Au Nanoparticles
Author(s) -
Schlexer Philomena,
Andersen Anton Bay,
Sebok Bela,
Chorkendorff Ib,
Schiøtz Jakob,
Hansen Thomas W.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
particle and particle systems characterization
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.877
H-Index - 56
eISSN - 1521-4117
pISSN - 0934-0866
DOI - 10.1002/ppsc.201800480
Subject(s) - melting point depression , nanoparticle , materials science , particle size , melting point , particle (ecology) , colloidal gold , transmission electron microscopy , nanotechnology , chemical engineering , chemical physics , chemistry , composite material , engineering , oceanography , geology
Nanoparticles have an immense importance in various fields, such as medicine, catalysis, and various technological applications. Nanoparticles exhibit a significant depression in melting point as their size goes below ≈10 nm. However, nanoparticles are frequently used in high temperature applications such as catalysis where temperatures often exceed several 100 degrees which makes it interesting to study not only the melting temperature depression, but also how the melting progresses through the particle. Using high‐resolution transmission electron microscopy, the melting process of gold nanoparticles in the size range of 2–20 nm Au nanoparticles combined with molecular dynamics studies is investigated. A linear dependence of the melting temperature on the inverse particle size is confirmed; electron microscopy imaging reveals that the particles start melting at the surface and the liquid shell formed then rapidly expands to the particle core.