Surface energy and surface tension of liquid metal nanodrops

Abstract. A unitary approach has been proposed for the calculation of surface energy and surface tension of nanoparticle being in equilibrium with its saturated vapor on both flat and curved surfaces at given temperature. The final equations involve parameters dependent on the type of premelting structure: bcc, fcc or hcp. The surface energy u and the surface tension are the most important thermodynamic characteristics of the layer between the coexistent phases. These quantities, in turn, allow one to obtain other characteristics of the interface boundaries such as work of adhesion, edge angle of wetting, coefficient of spreading etc. The values of u and are of special interest when studying the properties of nanoobjects (particles, bubbles, thin films) because the increase of surface contribution to the properties of the whole system becomes intrinsic. This communication deals with the calculation of surface energy and surface tension of nanoparticle held in equilibrium with its saturated vapor at constant temperature on the basis of proposed unitary approach. Let the nanoparticle be sphere of radius r corresponding to the equimolar dividing surface at which the autoadsorption, as known, is nil ( 0eà N , 0N - number of excess particles, e - molar area). The surface energy and surface tension shall be the excess energy eu and excess free energy eF per unit area of equimolar dividing surface respectively: 0 0,e N N e e u u V u Vu