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Phase separation in nanoparticles

A S Shirinyan1 and M Wautelet2

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The influences of the size, thermodynamic quantities and depletion of the parent phase on the separation thermodynamics of nanosized supersaturated binary solid solutions are studied theoretically. A quantitative analysis of the nucleation of one nucleus and of the decomposition in small isolated nanoparticles is presented. It is shown that three possibilities exist: phase separation, prohibition of decomposition, and formation of the metastable state of the nanoalloy. The conservation of matter leads to constraints on nucleation and growth of new phases. The case of solid–solid transition phenomena in a nanosystem is studied for regular solutions. This model leads to the existence of multiple equilibrium configurations for the same sets of initial parameters.

Phase diagrams of small particles, i.e. probability-size, nucleation barrier-solubility, temperature-composition, are plotted within a regular solution model.


PACS

64.75.-g Phase equilibria

64.70.K- Solid–solid transitions

61.46.-w Structure of nanoscale materials

64.70.Nd Structural transitions in nanoscale materials

64.60.My Metastable phases

64.60.Q- Nucleation

Subjects

Soft matter, liquids and polymers

Nanoscale science and low-D systems

Condensed matter: structural, mechanical & thermal

Dates

Issue 12 (December 2004)

Received 14 July 2004, in final form 22 September 2004

Published 3 November 2004



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