Equilibrium shape is the inner envelope of planes normal to, and passing through the end of, the free energy vectors.
Equilibrium Wulff shape
Create (111) faces to give truncated octahedron.
(111) type face
(100) type face
Variations of facet sizes
Multiply twinned particles
Decahedral and icosahedral MTPs
Made from 5 tetrahedral units
Made from 20 tetrahedral units
Strain in MTPs
7.5°
Cluster structure of Al13
Evaporation cluster source
Abundances of Na clusters
Closed electronic shells for Na clusters
1 NENEN
Here we are plotting:
NN 1
Metal-nonmetal transition in electronic states
Worked example
(a) Show that the Fermi energy for sodium is approximately 3.1 eV (density of Na is 970 kg m-3; atomic mass for Na is 23). [Hint: Assume a free-electron model for the valence electrons of sodium.]
(b) Hence derive an approximate expression for the temperature of the metal-nonmetal transition for a sodium cluster of diameter, d. Find this diameter at a temperature of 100 K.