Pauling (metallic)
12
radius of atom reduces with the reduction of their coordination numbers
(CNs). Due to the termination of the lattice periodicity in the surface normal, a surface
provides such an environment for bond contraction. Sinnott
13
indicated that the bond
contraction depends on the reduction of CN and it is independent of the nature of the bond.
Such a bond contraction and the rise in surface-to-bulk volume ratio of small particles will
enhance the crystal field and the corresponding physical properties of a nanosolid. It is
anticipated that at surface, the local mechanical properties such as the hardness and Young's
modulus will be enhanced because these quantities depend on the binding energy at
equilibrium atomic separation.
14
The above predictions have initiated us to do an experimental survey with Raman
spectroscopy (HeNe laser, normal incidence), nanoindentation and pin-on-disk slide friction.
Raman gives information about lattice vibration in energy space and does no matter with the
depth of penetration of the light. By taking the relative change, one may exclude the errors in
nanoindentor caused by the tip size or other possible resources.
Fig. 1 compares the low-frequency Raman shift for typical Al and Zr oxides, Ti and
amorphous carbon nitrides and amorphous carbon and Tungsten carbides. As anticipated, the
lone-pair features for oxides are stronger than the features for nitrides while no such features
can be resolved for carbides below 1000 cm
-1
wavenumber. The peak position depends on the
reduced atomic mass, µ, of the compounds, and the force constant, k, of the interatomic
interaction (ω ∝ (k/µ)
1/2
). Numerical analysis using a 2-3 power potential
15
could give the
force constant and simulate these features that were attributed to the hydrogen bond
vibrations with ~0.05 eV binding energy.
15
The hydrogen bond is actually composed of a lone
pair and a covalent bond. The vibration of the covalent-bond has contributed to the spectra at
much higher frequencies. Therefore, these features come from the vibration of the weak
interaction of lone pairs. The trends shown in Figure 1 evidence sufficiently for the existence
of nonbonding lone pair interaction as a result of the sp-orbital hybridization of the
electronegative additives and of the "4-n" rule for lone pair production.
The elastic recovery is defined as the ratio of area covered by the unloading curve to the area
covered by the loading curve in the load-depth profile of nanoindentation. Nanoindentation
profiles in Fig. 2 confirm the predictions of high elasticity of the nitride surfaces contributed
by the lone pair interaction. For AlGaN,
16
the elastic recovery is as high as 100% with lower
load (0.7 mN). As it can be seen that for the amorphous carbon film, the absence of lone pairs
makes the carbide less elastic than a nitride under the same scale of indentation load. For CN
and TiN, the elastic recovery ranges from 65% to 85% with higher load (5 mN).
17
The change
of the elastic recovery with load indicates a critical load value for the lone pair interaction.
One might argue that diamond should give a high elastic recovery at all the possible loads,
but no means or harder alternative materials can be used to detect this intuition. Therefore,
the nonbonding interlayer interaction enhances the elasticity of nitride surfaces at very low
load. Defect or dislocations, as well as the tip effect may induce errors in measurement but it
does no matter with the nature of a surface; in particular, taking the relative changes of the
quantity will remove such errors. Such a high elasticity by nature furnishes the nitride surface
with self-lubricative property for nano-tribological applications.
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