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Crossover from Electronic to Atomic Shell Structure in Alkali Metal Nanowires

A. I. Yanson·I. K. Yanson·J. M. van Ruitenbeek
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Abstract

After making a cold weld by pressing two clean metal surfaces together, upon gradually separating the two pieces a metallic nanowire is formed, which progressively thins down to a single atom before contact is lost. In previous experiments [1,2] we have observed that the stability of such nanowires is influenced by electronic shell filling effects, in analogy to shell effects in metal clusters [3]. For sodium and potassium at larger diameters there is a crossover to crystalline wires with shell-closings corresponding to the completion of additional atomic layers. This observation completes the analogy between shell effects observed for clusters and nanowires.

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A. I. Yanson, I. K. Yanson, J. M. van Ruitenbeek. 2001-05-10. Crossover from Electronic to Atomic Shell Structure in Alkali Metal Nanowires. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.87.216805

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