“Madelung model” prediction for dependence of lattice parameter on nanocrystal size

The competition between the long range Coulomb attractive and the short range repulsive interaction in ionic nanocrystals creates an effective negative pressure, which causes the lattice parameter a to increase with decreasing nanoparticle size d. A simple “Madelung model” is used to predict the dependence of the lattice parameter for CeO2 and BaTiO3 on d, δa/a = α/d, for α =0.22 Å and 0.18 Å respectively. The model predictions are compared with experimental results.