We present an experimental investigation of fracture in self-assembled gold nanoparticle mono- and multilayers attached to elastomer substrates and subjected to tensile stress. Imaging the fracture patterns down to the scale of single particles provides detailed information about the crack width distribution and allows us to compare the scaling of the average crack spacing as a function of stra...

We show that coverage fluctuations on catalyst particles can drastically alter their macroscopic catalytic behavior. Scrutinizing the occurrence of kinetic bistabilities, it is demonstrated by molecular beam experiments on model catalysts that macroscopically observable bistabilities vanish completely with decreasing particle size, as previously predicted by theory. The effect is attributed to ...

The structure of nanocrystalline Y2O3:Eu prepared by a combustion reaction was analyzed by XRD and high-resolution electron microscopy. Compared with a large-scale particles, 5-nm Y2O3:Eu particles presented as distorted crystallite and rough surfaces. Luminescent and absorption properties of nano-Y2O3:Eu showed remarkably particle size effects. At Y2O3:Eu particle sizes smaller than 10 nm some...

We investigate the sensitivity of marine cloud brightening to the properties of the added salt particle distribution using a cloud parcel model, with an aim to address the question of, 'what is the most efficient particle size distribution that will produce a desired cooling effect?' We examine the effect that altering the aerosol particle size distribution has on the activation and growth of d...

The negative scaling of plant and animal abundance with body mass is one of the most fundamental relationships in ecology. However, theoretical approaches to explain this phenomenon make the unrealistic assumption that species share a homogeneous resource. Here we present a simple model linking mass and metabolism with density that includes the effects of consumer size on resource characteristi...

A 40 wt% Pt/C cathode electrocatalyst with controlled Pt particle size of approximately 2.9 nm showing better performance than commercial catalyst for direct methanol fuel cell was prepared by a polyol process with water but without using stabilizing agent.

Although ordinary chondrite (OC) meteorites dominate observed falls, the identification of near-Earth and main-belt asteroid sources has remained elusive. Telescopic measurements of 35 near-Earth asteroids ( approximately3 kilometers in diameter) revealed six that have visible wavelength spectra similar to laboratory spectra of OC meteorites. Near-Earth asteroids were found to have spectral pro...