Related papers: Discrete thinning dynamics in a continuum model of…
We have examined theoretically the spontaneous thinning process of tip-suspended nanowires, and subsequently studied the structure and stability of the monatomic gold wires recently observed by Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). The…
Using concepts from fluid dynamics, a partial differential equation for the shape evolution of a metallic nanowire is derived from a semiclassical energy functional that includes electron-shell effects. A rich dynamics, involving movement…
A brief review of the nanoscale free-electron model of metal nanowires is presented. This continuum description of metal nanostructures allows for a unified treatment of cohesive and conducting properties. Conductance channels act as…
This article presents a brief review of the nanoscale free-electron model, which provides a continuum description of metal nanostructures. It is argued that surface and quantum-size effects are the two dominant factors in the energetics of…
When a macroscopic metallic wire is subject to tensile stress, it necks down smoothly as it elongates. We show that nanowires with radii comparable to the Fermi wavelength display remarkably different behavior. Using concepts from fluid…
The formation of gold nanowires in vacuum at room temperature reveals a periodic spectrum of exceptionally stable diameters. This is identified as shell structure similar to that which was recently discovered for alkali metals at low…
After making a cold weld by pressing two clean metal surfaces together, upon gradually separating the two pieces a metallic nanowire is formed, which progressively thins down to a single atom before contact is lost. In previous experiments…
We investigate the elongation and breaking process of metallic nanowires using the ultimate jellium model in self-consistent density-functional calculations of the electron structure. In this model the positive background charge deforms to…
Long, cylindrical metal nanowires have recently been observed to form and be stable for seconds at a time at room temperature. Their stability and structural dynamics is well described by a continuum model, the nanoscale free-electron…
We report microscale friction experiments for diamond/metal and diamond/silica contacts under gigapascal contact pressures. Using a new nanoprobe technique which has sufficient dynamic range of force and stiffness, we demonstrate the…
A linear stability analysis of metallic nanowires is performed in the free-electron model using quantum chaos techniques. It is found that the classical instability of a long wire under surface tension can be completely suppressed by…
Chemisorption is one of the active research areas in carbon materials. The occurrence of the monoatomic carbon chain can be made by surrounding the double walled carbon nanotube and meanwhile worldwide efforts have been made to create the…
By using molecular dynamics simulations, the research examine how copper and silver nanowires respond to tensile loading in order to clarify their nanoscale deformation mechanisms. The results demonstrate that these two metal nanowires…
We report experiments on aluminum nanowires in ultra-high vacuum at room temperature that reveal a periodic spectrum of exceptionally stable structures. Two "magic" series of stable structures are observed: At low conductance, the formation…
Equilibrium structure, local densities of states, and electronic transport in a gold nanowire made of a four-atom chain supported by two gold electrodes, which has been imaged recently by high-resolution electron microscopy, and chemical…
A remarkably quantitative understanding of the electrical and mechanical properties of metal wires with a thickness on the scale of a nanometer has been obtained within the free-electron model using semiclassical techniques. Convergent…
The frictional dynamics of interacting surfaces under forced translation are critically dependent on lattice commensurability. Performing experiments in a trapped-ion friction emulator, we observe two distinct structural and frictional…
In systems with reduced dimensions quantum fluctuations have a strong influence on the electronic conduction, even at very low temperature. In superconductors this is especially interesting, since the coherent state of the superconducting…
We perform molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the reduction of the thermal conductivity by kinks in silicon nanowires. The reduction percentage can be as high as 70% at room temperature. The temperature dependence of the…
The current miniaturization of electronic devices raises many questions about the properties of various materials at nanometre-scales. Recent molecular dynamics computer simulations have shown that small finite nanowires of gold exist as…