Size Prediction of Carbon-Encapsulated Nickel Nanoparticles

Abstract

A simple theoretical model to predict the size control of carbon-encapsulated metal nanoparticles is developed using heat transfer and carbon diffusion theories. Taking carbon-encapsulated nickel nanoparticles as an example, the minimum size of carbon-encapsulated structure that can be formed as a function of the ambient temperature is calculated and the effect of activation energies for carbon diffusion on the size of carbon-encapsulated nickel nanoparticles is examined. The theoretical results are in good agreement with the experiment, suggesting that our model can be used to guide the size-controlled synthesis of carbon-encapsulated metal nanoparticles.