First order electric and magnetic phase transitions in nanostructures

A thermodynamic model of the electric phase transitions of the first- and second-order, like a model of magnetic phase transitions for nanostructures, e.g., for metallic nanostructured europium, is considered. It was shown that, for structures possessing first-order electric phase transitions, the formation of nanostructures with 30- to 50-nm crystallites is necessary. A decrease in nanocrystallite size in a nanostructure leads to a lowering of the transition intensity and to a decrease in the transition temperature. The results of this model correspond to the experimental data for the electric transitions and to the size factors that impact them in V2O3, VO2, and Fe3O4. © 2011 Pleiades Publishing, Ltd.