The influence of strain distribution on morphology evolution of Ge/GeO2 core/shell nanoparticle confined in ultrathin Al2O3 thin film by surface oxidation is investigated. A finite-element simulation is performed to simulate the morphology evolution of the confined Ge/GeO2 core/shell nanoparticle under the influence of the local strain distribution. It indicates that the resultant oxidation-related morphology of Ge/GeO2 core/shell nanoparticle confined in ultrathin film is strongly dependent on the local strain distribution. On the other hand, the strain gradients applied on the confined GeO2 shell can be modified by the formation of polycrystalline GeO2 shell, which has potential application in tailoring the microstructure and morphology evolution of the Ge/GeO2 core/shell nanoparticle.
The strain distributions of Au/Ag and Ag/Au nanoparticles confined in the Al2O3 matrix with different core sizes are investigated by using the finite element method, respectively. The simulation results clearly indicate that the compressive strains exerted on the Au/Ag and Ag/Au nanoparticles can he induced by the Al2O3 matrix. Moreover, it can be found that the strain gradient existing in a Au/Ag nanoparticle is much larger than that in a Ag/Au nanoparticle, which could be due to the larger Young＇s modu]us of An than that of Ag. With the core size increasing, the strain gradient existing in the Au/Ag nanoparficle becomes larger, while the strain gradient existing in the Ag/Au nanoparticle keeps constant. These different strain distributions may have significant influences on the structures and morphologies of the Au/Ag and Ag/Au nanoparticles, leading to the different physical properties for potential applications.
