title: Liquid-like pseudoelasticity of sub-10-nm crystalline silver particles.
abstract: In nanotechnology, small-volume metals with large surface area are used as electrodes, catalysts, interconnects and antennae. Their shape stability at room temperature has, however, been questioned. Using in situ high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, we find that Ag nanoparticles can be deformed like a liquid droplet but remain highly crystalline in the interior, with no sign of dislocation activity during deformation. Surface-diffusion-mediated pseudoelastic deformation is evident at room temperature, which can be driven by either an external force or capillary-energy minimization. Atomistic simulations confirm that such highly unusual Coble pseudoelasticity can indeed happen for sub-10-nm Ag particles at room temperature and at timescales from seconds to months.
authors.affiliation: SEU-FEI Nano-Pico Center, Key Lab of MEMS of Ministry of Education, Southeast University, Nanjing, 210096, China.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: SEU-FEI Nano-Pico Center, Key Lab of MEMS of Ministry of Education, Southeast University, Nanjing, 210096, China.
authors.forename: Longbing
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: 1] Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA [2] Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA [3] Center for Elements Strategy Initiative for Structural Materials (ESISM), Kyoto University, Sakyo, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan.
authors.forename: Yu-Chieh
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Lo
authors.affiliation: SEU-FEI Nano-Pico Center, Key Lab of MEMS of Ministry of Education, Southeast University, Nanjing, 210096, China.
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: SEU-FEI Nano-Pico Center, Key Lab of MEMS of Ministry of Education, Southeast University, Nanjing, 210096, China.
authors.forename: Hengchang
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bi
authors.affiliation: SEU-FEI Nano-Pico Center, Key Lab of MEMS of Ministry of Education, Southeast University, Nanjing, 210096, China.
authors.forename: Litao
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Silicon Materials, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, China.
authors.forename: Ze
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Pittsburgh, 3700 O'Hara Street Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15261, USA.
authors.forename: Scott X
authors.initials: SX
authors.lastname: Mao
authors.affiliation: 1] Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA [2] Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.
authors.forename: Ju
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li