Chapter/Index: Introduction | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | Appendix
| Preferential electron-beam etching of grain boundaries is due to a phenomenon where atomic binding energies are lower [1]. Therefore, small particles with highly convex surface have high density of grain boundaries, for instance, the particles below about 10 nm diameter undergo electron sputtering at incident energies below the threshold for bulk material. This can provide an explanation for the small but measurable sputtering observed from silver nnanoparticles (e.g. 6 – 14 nm in diameter) when exposed to 200 keV electrons [2].
[1] F. Gao, D.J. Bacon, W. S. Lai, R. J. Kurtz, Phil. Mag. 86 (2006) 4243.
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