Phase transition of metal nanowires confined in a low-dimensional nanospace

Phase transition of molybdenum nanowires confined in a low-dimensional nanospace is investigated by molecular dynamics simulation focusing on confinement and Gibbs–Thomson effects. The concentric nanowire is mainly formed in the nanospace with radius of 3 nm or less and the crystalline nanowire becomes dominant for the case of larger radius. The energy difference between concentric and crystalline structures was only 61 meV/atom, which induces structural transition easily. The melting point was negatively proportional to the inverse of nanowire radius due to the Gibbs–Thomson effect, whereas the solidification point of thin nanowires was almost same due to the confinement effect.