Relation between vacancy properties and surface energies in three noble or transition metals

An approximate formula, derived via a particular “glue” model of interatomic forces, is brought into direct contact with experiment for close-packed metals Cu, Au and Ni. Thereby, two vacancy properties, mono-vacancy formation energy and divacancy binding energy, are shown to correlate approximately with a specific combination of surface energies. Best accord with the theoretical prediction is found for Ni.