SIZE AND TEMPERATURE EFFECT ON THERMAL EXPANSION COEFFICIENT AND LATTICE PARAMETER OF NANOMATERIALS

A simple theoretical model is developed to study the effect of size and temperature on the coefficient of thermal expansion and lattice parameter of nanomaterials. We have studied the size dependence of thermal expansion coefficient of Pb, Ag and Zn in different shape viz. spherical, nanowire and nanofilm. A good agreement between theory and available experimental data confirmed the model predictions. We have used these results to study the temperature dependence of lattice parameter for different size and also included the results of bulk materials. The temperature dependence of lattice parameter of Zn nanowire and Ag nanowire are found to present a good agreement with the experimental data. We have also computed the temperature and size dependence of lattice parameter of Se and Pb for different shape viz. spherical, nanowire and nanofilm. The results are discussed in the light of recent research on nanomaterials.