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Updated: Feb 13, 2026

Reverse Microemulsion-mediated Synthesis of Monometallic and Bimetallic Early Transition Metal Carbide and Nitride Nanoparticles
Published on: November 27, 2015
Influence of Relativistic Effects on the Contact Formation of Transition Metals
M R Calvo1,2,3, C Sabater1, W Dednam1,4
1Departamento de Física Aplicada and Unidad asociada CSIC, Universidad de Alicante, Campus de San Vicente del Raspeig, E-03690 Alicante, Spain.
Abstract:
Our analysis of the contact formation processes undergone by Au, Ag, and Cu nanojunctions reveals that the distance at which the two closest atoms on a pair of opposing electrodes jump into contact is, on average, 2 times longer for Au than either Ag or Cu. This suggests the existence of a longer-range interaction between those two atoms in the case of Au, a result of the significant relativistic energy contributions to the electronic structure of this metal, as confirmed by ab initio calculations. Once in the contact regime, the differences between Au, Ag, and Cu are subtle, and the conductance of single-atom contacts for metals of similar chemical valence is mostly determined by geometry and coordination.
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