ELECTRONICALLY TUNABLE PROPERTIES OF NANOCRYSTALLINE METALS Harald
Drings1, Raghavan Nadar Viswanath1, Roland Würschum2, Jörg
Weissmüller1 and Herbert Gleiter1 - 1 Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe,
Institute for Nanotechnology Postfach 3640 76021 Karlsruhe,Germany,Tel
+49-7247-82-6378, Fax +49-7247-82-6368 - 2 Technical University of
Graz, Institute for Technical Physics, Petersgasse 16, A-8010 Graz,
Austria

The surface charge density of materials can be influenced by an
externally applied field [1]. Due to the large fraction of surface
atoms in nanocrystalline (n-) materials, a field-induced variation in
the surface charge density should lead to a reversible change of
structural and physical properties. To verify this assumption, in-situ
measurements of the lattice parameter d of n-Pt and the magnetic
susceptibility of n-Pd, in dependence of charging, were performed.
Electrochemical double layer formation in an electrochemical cell was
used for charging. Reversible changes of the lattice parameter and the
magnetic susceptibility were observed.