Figure 5

Vacancy formation energy versus the size of a spherical gold (Au) nanoparticle. The bulk vacancy formation energy is 0.95 eV [21]. The models from Guisbiers, Qi, Yang, Shandiz, Sun and Nanda are compared together. The parameters used with the Guisbiers’ model are α _sphere = 1.83 nm [31] and S = 1/12.2. The parameters used with the Qi’s model are d ₁₀₀ = 0.40788 nm [25], κ = 1.245 [25] and p = 1. The parameters used with the Yang’s model are S _b = 105.47 Jmol⁻¹K⁻¹[15] and d = 0.3188 nm [16]. The parameters used with the Shandiz’s model are P _L = 0.74 [16], P _S = 0.91 [16], d = 0.3188 nm [16], Z _SB = 0.25 [16] and λ = 0. The parameters used with the Sun’s model are Z _B = 12 [6], Z ₁ = 4 [6], Z ₂ = 6 [6], Z ₃ = 8 [6], d = 0.3188 nm [16], m = 1 [6] and τ = 3. The parameter used with the Nanda’s model is d = 0.3188 nm [16]