Size-dependent structural disorder in nanocrystalline Cu probed by synchrotron-based X-ray techniques

Elemental Cu nanocrystals were synthesized in thin film SiO2 by ion implantation and thermal annealing. The local atomic structure and nanocrystal size distribution were investigated by means of extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) spectroscopy and small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), respectively. We quantify the bondlength contraction and increased structural disorder in the nanocrystals as compared to a bulk Cu reference. Both are proportional to the inverse of the nanocrystal diameter, which in turn is proportional to the surface-area-to-volume ratio. In particular we show that a simple liquid-drop model can explain the bondlength contraction and estimate the surface tension of nanocrystalline Cu to be 3.8 ± 0.4 J/m2.