Lattice contractions of a nanoparticle due to the surface tension: A model of elasticity

The lattice parameters of a metallic nanoparticle decrease with its size. To describe this phenomenon, a model based on elasticity is developed in this paper. Using this model, we investigate the lattice contraction of a metallic nanoparticle due to its surface tension. The effect of size-dependent surface tension on the lattice contraction is discussed. Furthermore, the lattice contraction of a nanoparticle of non-spherical shape is also approximately estimated by defining a shape factor. The analysis shows that the lattice parameters of metallic nanoparticle are size dependent. However, if the radius of nanoparticle is more than 5.0 nm, the effect of size on lattice contraction is almost negligible.