Surface-area-difference model for thermodynamic properties of metallic nanocrystals

The surface-area-difference (SAD) model is developed for the cohesive energy of metallic crystals by taking into account surface effects, and has been extended to predict the thermodynamic properties of metallic nanoparticles, nanowires and nanofilms with free and non-free surfaces (embedded in a matrix). It is found that the thermodynamic properties of metallic nanocrystals depend on the crystal size and the interface coherence, where the interface coherence determines the variation tendency (increasing or decreasing), and the size determines the magnitude of the variation. The present calculated results on the thermodynamic properties of metallic nanocrystals by the SAD model are consistent with the corresponding experimental values.