English

Non-Crystalline Structures of Ultra-Thin Unsupported Nanowires

Materials Science 2015-06-25 v1

Abstract

Computer simulations suggest that ultrathin metal wires should develop exotic, non-crystalline stable atomic structures, once their diameter decreases below a critical size of the order of a few atomic spacings. The new structures, whose details depend upon the material and the wire thickness, may be dominated by icosahedral packings. Helical, spiral-structured wires with multi-atom pitches are also predicted. The phenomenon, analogous to the appearance of icosahedral and other non-crystalline shapes in small clusters, can be rationalized in terms of surface energy anisotropy and optimal packing.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.cond-mat/9803096,
  title  = {Non-Crystalline Structures of Ultra-Thin Unsupported Nanowires},
  author = {Oguz Gulseren and Furio Ercolessi and Erio Tosatti},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/9803096},
  year   = {2015}
}

Comments

5 pages, 2 figures, REVTeX