Challenging the ideal strength limit in single-crystalline gold nanoflakes through phase engineering
Abstract Materials usually fracture before reaching their ideal strength limits. Meanwhile, materials with high strength generally have poor ductility, and vice versa. For example, gold with the conventional face-centered cubic (FCC) phase is highly ductile while the yield strength (~102 MPa) is sig...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Nature Communications |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-56047-x |
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| author | Tong Zhang Yuanbiao Tong Chenxinyu Pan Jun Pei Xiaomeng Wang Tao Liu Binglun Yin Pan Wang Yang Gao Limin Tong Wei Yang |
| author_facet | Tong Zhang Yuanbiao Tong Chenxinyu Pan Jun Pei Xiaomeng Wang Tao Liu Binglun Yin Pan Wang Yang Gao Limin Tong Wei Yang |
| author_sort | Tong Zhang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Materials usually fracture before reaching their ideal strength limits. Meanwhile, materials with high strength generally have poor ductility, and vice versa. For example, gold with the conventional face-centered cubic (FCC) phase is highly ductile while the yield strength (~102 MPa) is significantly lower than its ideal theoretical limit. Here, through phase engineering, we show that defect-free single-crystalline gold nanoflakes with the hexagonal close-packed (HCP) phase can exhibit a strength of 6.0 GPa, which is beyond the ideal theoretical limit of the conventional FCC counterpart. The lattice structure is thickness-dependent and the FCC-HCP phase transformation happens in the range of 11–13 nm. Suspended-nanoindentations based on atomic force microscopy (AFM) show that the Young’s modulus and tensile strength are also thickness-and phase- dependent. The maximum strength is reached in HCP nanoflakes thinner than 10 nm. First-principles and molecular dynamics (MD) calculations demonstrate that the mechanical properties arise from the unconventional HCP structure as well as the strong surface effect. Our study provides valuable insights into the fabrication of nanometals with extraordinary mechanical properties through phase engineering. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-abf51a90a7e0431bba253813511d0a22 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2041-1723 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nature Communications |
| spelling | doaj-art-abf51a90a7e0431bba253813511d0a222025-01-26T12:40:40ZengNature PortfolioNature Communications2041-17232025-01-0116111010.1038/s41467-025-56047-xChallenging the ideal strength limit in single-crystalline gold nanoflakes through phase engineeringTong Zhang0Yuanbiao Tong1Chenxinyu Pan2Jun Pei3Xiaomeng Wang4Tao Liu5Binglun Yin6Pan Wang7Yang Gao8Limin Tong9Wei Yang10Center for X-mechanics, Department of Engineering Mechanics, Zhejiang UniversityState Key Laboratory of Extreme Photonics and Instrumentation, College of Optical Science and EngineeringState Key Laboratory of Extreme Photonics and Instrumentation, College of Optical Science and EngineeringCenter for X-mechanics, Department of Engineering Mechanics, Zhejiang UniversityCenter for X-mechanics, Department of Engineering Mechanics, Zhejiang UniversityCenter for X-mechanics, Department of Engineering Mechanics, Zhejiang UniversityCenter for X-mechanics, Department of Engineering Mechanics, Zhejiang UniversityState Key Laboratory of Extreme Photonics and Instrumentation, College of Optical Science and EngineeringCenter for X-mechanics, Department of Engineering Mechanics, Zhejiang UniversityState Key Laboratory of Extreme Photonics and Instrumentation, College of Optical Science and EngineeringCenter for X-mechanics, Department of Engineering Mechanics, Zhejiang UniversityAbstract Materials usually fracture before reaching their ideal strength limits. Meanwhile, materials with high strength generally have poor ductility, and vice versa. For example, gold with the conventional face-centered cubic (FCC) phase is highly ductile while the yield strength (~102 MPa) is significantly lower than its ideal theoretical limit. Here, through phase engineering, we show that defect-free single-crystalline gold nanoflakes with the hexagonal close-packed (HCP) phase can exhibit a strength of 6.0 GPa, which is beyond the ideal theoretical limit of the conventional FCC counterpart. The lattice structure is thickness-dependent and the FCC-HCP phase transformation happens in the range of 11–13 nm. Suspended-nanoindentations based on atomic force microscopy (AFM) show that the Young’s modulus and tensile strength are also thickness-and phase- dependent. The maximum strength is reached in HCP nanoflakes thinner than 10 nm. First-principles and molecular dynamics (MD) calculations demonstrate that the mechanical properties arise from the unconventional HCP structure as well as the strong surface effect. Our study provides valuable insights into the fabrication of nanometals with extraordinary mechanical properties through phase engineering.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-56047-x |
| spellingShingle | Tong Zhang Yuanbiao Tong Chenxinyu Pan Jun Pei Xiaomeng Wang Tao Liu Binglun Yin Pan Wang Yang Gao Limin Tong Wei Yang Challenging the ideal strength limit in single-crystalline gold nanoflakes through phase engineering Nature Communications |
| title | Challenging the ideal strength limit in single-crystalline gold nanoflakes through phase engineering |
| title_full | Challenging the ideal strength limit in single-crystalline gold nanoflakes through phase engineering |
| title_fullStr | Challenging the ideal strength limit in single-crystalline gold nanoflakes through phase engineering |
| title_full_unstemmed | Challenging the ideal strength limit in single-crystalline gold nanoflakes through phase engineering |
| title_short | Challenging the ideal strength limit in single-crystalline gold nanoflakes through phase engineering |
| title_sort | challenging the ideal strength limit in single crystalline gold nanoflakes through phase engineering |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-56047-x |
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