Surface and bulk melting of small metal clusters

Abstract

We present an analytical solution to the two-parabola Landau model, applied to melting of metal particles with sizes in the nanoscale range. The results provide an analytical understanding of the recently observed pseudo-crystalline phase of nanoscale Sn particles. Liquid skin formation as a precursor of melting is found to occur only for particles with radii greater than an explicitly given critical radius. The size dependences of the melting temperature, and of the latent heat, have been calculated, and a quantitative agreement is found with the experiment on tin particles.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Danish Research Council for Nature and Universe. J.C. would like to thank the Association of International Education Japan (AIEJ), Julie Marie Vinter Hansens Fund, Nordea Danmark Fund, Julie Damms Fund and Vordingborg Gymnasiums fund for the financial support during this work. Furthermore J.C. is also grateful to professor H. Saka at Nagoya University for the hospitality during this work. Both authors wish to thank Prof. H. Smith for constructive suggestions to the manuscript.