Engineering Physics Commons^™

Thermodynamic Stability Of Transition States In Nanosystems, Alexander Umantsev

Chemistry and Physics Faculty Working Papers

We present a theory which shows that, in a closed system of fixed volume capable of undergoing a phase transition, the transition state can be thermodynamically stable against the bulk phases if a certain material parameters criterion is fulfilled. In a small system below the critical size the transition state turns into a globally stable phase that can be observed experimentally. This effect is analogous to stabilization of icosahedral structures in clusters of certain sizes and energies. Stabilization of the transition state in small systems of limited resources allows us to conjecture that, in the case of a melting/freezing transition …