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In this paper we review the theory of silicon nanowires. We focus on nanowires with diameters below 10 nm, where quantum effects become important and the properties diverge significantly from those of bulk silicon. These wires can be…
Soft nanoparticles hold promise as smart emulsifiers due to their high degree of deformability, permeability and stimuli responsive properties. By means of large-scale simulations we investigate the structural properties of nanogels at…
We present an implementation in a linear-scaling density-functional theory code of an electronic enthalpy method, which has been found to be natural and efficient for the ab initio calculation of finite systems under hydrostatic pressure.…
We examine the nanoscale behavior of an equilibrium three-phase contact line in the presence of long-ranged intermolecular forces by employing a statistical mechanics of fluids approach, namely density functional theory (DFT) together with…
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…
In this work, Rayleigh microwave scattering was utilized to measure the electron number density produced by nanosecond high voltage breakdown in air between two electrodes in a pin-to-pin configuration (peak voltage 26 kV and pulse duration…
Nanowires are formed by indenting and subsequently retracting two pieces of sodium metal. Their cross-section gradually reduces upon retraction and the diameters can be obtained from the conductance. In previous work we have demonstrated…
We present a general study of oscillations in suspended one-dimensional elastic systems clamped at each end, exploring a wide range of slack (excess length) and downward external forces. Our results apply directly to recent experiments in…
The validity of the linear elasticity theory is examined at the nanometer scale by investigating the vibrational properties of silver and gold nanoparticles whose diameters range from about 1.5 to 4 nm. Comparing the vibration modes…
We consider the Casimir force including all important corrections to it for the configuration used in a recent experiment employing an atomic force microscope. We calculate the long-range hypothetical forces due to the exchange of light and…
The correlation energy in density functional theory can be expressed exactly in terms of the change in the probability of finding two electrons at a given distance $r_{12}$ (intracule density) when the electron-electron interaction is…
We present results of electronic structure calculations for aluminium contacts of atomic size, based on density functional theory and the local density approximation. Addressing the atomic orbitals at the neck of the nanocontact, we find…
We consider electrostatic interactions in two classes of nanostructures embedded in a three dimensional space: (1) helical nanotubes, and (2) thin films with uniform bending (i.e., constant mean curvature). Starting from the atomic scale…
Density functional theory (DFT) primarily provides a good description of the electronic structure. Thus, DFT primarily deals with length scales as those of a chemical bond, i.e. 10^-10 meter, and with time scales of the order of atomic…
The propagation of waves in the nonlinear acoustic metamaterials (NAMs) is fundamentally different from that in the conventional linear ones. In this article we consider two one-dimensional NAM systems featuring respectively a diatomic and…
A statistical analysis of the breaking behavior of Ni nanowires is presented. Using molecular dynamic simulations, we have determined the time evolution of both the nanowire atomic structure and its minimum cross section (Sm(t)).…
Although the two-dimensional model of random networks of metallic nanowires or carbon nanotubes is widely used, it significantly overestimates the number of contacts between elements compared to quasi-three-dimensional models. This, within…
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…
Due to the potential applications in biomedical engineering, it becomes more and more important to understand the process of engulfment and internalization of nanoparticles (NPs) by cell membranes. Despite the fact that the interaction…
Strong coupling between electronic and mechanical degrees of freedom is a basic requirement for the operation of any nanoelectromechanical device. In this Review we consider such devices and in particular investigate the properties of small…