Observation of shell effects in nanowires for the noble metals Cu, Ag, and Au

We extend our previous shell effect observation in gold nanowires at room temperature under ultrahigh vacuum to the other two noble metals: silver and copper. Similar to gold, silver nanowires present two series of exceptionally stable diameters related to electronic and atomic shell filling. This observation is in concordance with what was previously found for alkali metal nanowires. Copper, however, presents only electronic shell filling. Remarkably we find that shell structure survives under ambient conditions for gold and silver.