Thermodynamic model of the surface energy of nanocrystals

Combining the thermodynamics at the nanometer scale and the continuum mechanics, we established a universal and analytic thermodynamic model to elucidate the surface energy of nanocrystals. It was found that the surface energy decreases with decreasing the size of nanocrystals. The theoretical predictions were well consistent with the experimental data, implying that the thermodynamic model could be expected to be a general approach to understand surface energy in nanomaterials.