Theory of electrochemical monoatomic nanowires

E. P. M. LEIVA; CRISTIÁN G. SÁNCHEZ; P. VÉLEZ; W. SCHMICKLER

AMER PHYSICAL SOC

Año: 2006 vol. 74 p. 35422 - 35422

onoatomic nanowires in contact with an electrolyte can be charged by varying their potential with respect to a reference electrode. The principal properties of such wires have been explored within a model in which the wire is represented as jellium, and the electrolyte is treated on the Poisson-Boltzmann level. In addition, ab initio calculations have been performed for the structure of monoatomic gold and silver wires. Due to the cylindrical geometry the interfacial capacity is much larger than for a planar geometry, and mass transport is enhanced. The work function is higher than for bulk electrodes, which entails a shift of the point of zero charge to high potentials. This should make it possible to reach very high negative charge densities on electrochemical nanowires. As a consequence, such wires may have different catalytic properties than bulk electrodes.