Solute concentrations and strains in nanoparticles

The Gibbs-approach based adsorption isotherm is applied to surface segregation in nanoparticles. A nanoparticle is treated to be as a composite with a core lattice and a surface shell and both core and shell possess their thermodynamic properties. The Gibbs-approach based adsorption isotherm has the ability to analyze simultaneously stresses, concentrations and their coupling behaviors in the surface shell and the core lattice. The thermodynamic analysis shows that the apparent solute concentration could be greatly enhanced in nanoparticles, due to a large surface volume fraction and a considerable increase in the lattice concentration that is, in turn, boosted by the concentration-induced stresses.