Impact of surface and twin-boundary scattering on the electrical transport properties of Ag nanowires

• Temperature-dependent electrical transport in single Ag nanowires combined with structural analysis.
• Analysis in terms of Fuchs–Sondheimer Model and Bloch–Grüneisen Model.
• Resolving impact of five-fold-twinning and associated phonon-softening on electrical properties.
• First comprehensive data and analysis of this kind for quasi-1D metal nanowires.

Electrical transport properties of individual Ag nanowires are studied from room temperature down to low temperatures of a few Kelvin. The results show that surface scattering effects alone cannot account for the temperature-dependence of the nanowire resistivity and its unusually high residual resistivity compared to bulk Ag, whereas scattering at longitudinal twin planes and contributions due to phonon softening have to be considered. The impact of the twinning is observed in the marked reduction of the Debye temperature with respect to bulk silver. The findings also indicate that at low temperatures the scattering at the twin boundaries is more prominent than surface and electron–phonon scattering.