Two-phase equilibrium states in individual Cu–Ni nanoparticles: size, depletion and hysteresis effects

• Aram S. Shirinyan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1811–1820, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.185

• isolated nanoparticle; surface-induced size effect; thermodynamic approach; Introduction One of the key questions in nanoscience is related to the problem of equilibrium phase diagrams variation for multicomponent finite systems with size decreasing. One of the most extensively studied size effects (first

• the condition of the energy minimum are constructed and the difference between the equilibrium and solubility curves is explained. The concluding remarks are given in last part of the manuscript. Theory: thermodynamic approach for phase transformation Surface-induced size effect Let us first briefly

• ): or the condition gnano(X1,T) = gnano(X2,T) for solution case: For a small volume of such a system (consisting the number of atoms N0) the nanophase 2 will be advantageous as compared with nanophase 1 when: N0 < N0*. The experimental examples of such kind surface-induced size effect have been found