Quantum stability and magic lengths of metal atom wires

Abstract

Metal atom wires represent an important class of nanomaterials in the development of future electronic devices and other functional applications. Using first-principles calculations within density functional theory, we carry out a systematic study of the quantum stability of freestanding atom wires consisting of prototypical metal elements with s-, sp-, and sd-valence electrons. We explore how the quantum mechanically confined motion and local bonding of the valence electrons in these different wire systems can dictate their overall structural stability and find that the formation energy of essentially all the wires oscillates with respect to their length measured by the number n of atoms contained in the wires, establishing the existence of highly preferred (or magic) lengths. Furthermore, different wire classes exhibit distinctively different oscillatory characteristics and quantum stabilities. Alkali metal wires possessing an unpaired s valence electron per atom exhibit simple damped even-odd oscillations. In contrast, Al and Ga wires containing three s(2)p(1) valence electrons per atom generally display much larger and undamped even-odd energy oscillations due to stronger local bonding of the p orbitals. Among the noble metals, the s-dominant Ag wires behave similarly to the linear alkali metal wires, while Au and Pt wires distinctly prefer to be structurally zigzagged due to strong relativistic effects. These findings are discussed in connection with existing experiments and should also be instrumental in future experimental realization of different metal atom wires in freestanding or supported environments with desirable functionalities.