Synthesis and structure determination of ytterbium nanoparticles

For the first time the synthesis of of Yb metal nanoparticles is reported. The synthesis was made using the bioreduction methods. By the change in the pH the nanoparticles of 2 up to 10 nm were obtained. Size and structure determination was made using low magnification and high resolution transmission electron microscopy, which demonstrated that the particles are mainly of fcc-like structures. Theoretical calculations for by of molecular dynamics simulation for configurations with 4000 atoms of the Yb nanoparticle demonstrated that the fcc-like structure is the lowest energy configuration.