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Crystals
Special Issues
Structure, Properties, and Applications of Nanomaterials and Thin Films
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Structure, Properties, and Applications of Nanomaterials and Thin Films

A special issue of Crystals (ISSN 2073-4352).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (25 October 2025) | Viewed by 833

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Irina Negut

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Laser Department, National Institute for Laser, Plasma and Radiation Physics, 077125 Ilfov, Romania
Interests: biomaterials; thin films; medical engineering; laser coatings; antimicrobial applications
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Nanomaterials and thin films have emerged as key components in the advancement of numerous cutting-edge technologies, ranging from electronics and photonics to energy storage, sensing, and biomedical applications. Their unique structural, chemical, mechanical, and electronic properties, enabled by nanoscale phenomena and interface effects, continue to drive innovation across both fundamental research and industrial applications. Recent progress in the synthesis, characterization, and theoretical modeling of nanomaterials and thin films has opened new pathways for tailoring their properties and unlocking multifunctional capabilities. However, challenges remain in controlling their uniformity, stability, scalability, and integration into devices. Addressing these challenges requires a deeper understanding of their structure, property relationships, and interaction mechanisms.

This Special Issue, titled “Structure, Properties, and Applications of Nanomaterials and Thin Films”, aims to highlight recent advances and novel findings in this dynamic field. We invite contributions that explore innovative fabrication techniques, fundamental physical and chemical properties, interface phenomena, and practical implementations. By bringing together the latest developments, this collection seeks to foster interdisciplinary dialogue and stimulate future research directions.

We look forward to receiving your valuable submissions and hope this Special Issue will serve as a useful resource for researchers, technologists, and the wider scientific community.

Dr. Irina Negut
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Crystals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2100 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • nanomaterials
  • thin films
  • interface phenomena
  • nanostructure-property relationships
  • synthesis techniques
  • characterization methods
  • electronic and optical Properties
  • energy storage applications
  • biomedical nanotechnology
  • device integration

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

24 pages, 7190 KB  
Article
Effects of Loading Direction on Mechanical Behavior of Core–Shell Cu-Al Nanoparticles Under Uniform Compressive Loading-Molecular Dynamics Study
by Phillip Tomich, Michael Zawadzki and Iman Salehinia
Crystals 2026, 16(3), 186; https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst16030186 - 10 Mar 2026
Viewed by 535
Abstract
The mechanical behavior of metallic core–shell nanoparticles is critical for their use as reinforcement particles and additive manufacturing feedstocks, yet their deformation mechanisms remain incompletely understood. This study employs molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the compressive response of a Cu-core/Al-shell nanoparticle and compares [...] Read more.
The mechanical behavior of metallic core–shell nanoparticles is critical for their use as reinforcement particles and additive manufacturing feedstocks, yet their deformation mechanisms remain incompletely understood. This study employs molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the compressive response of a Cu-core/Al-shell nanoparticle and compares it with solid Cu, solid Al, and a hollow Al shell of the same size under uniaxial loading along ⟨100⟩, ⟨110⟩, ⟨111⟩, and ⟨112⟩ directions. The single-material nanoparticles show strong anisotropy: solid Cu exhibits orientation-dependent transitions from dislocation slip to deformation twinning, while introducing a void to form a hollow Al shell reduces stiffness and strength, confines plasticity to the shell wall, and suppresses extended load-bearing twins. The Cu–Al core–shell nanoparticle combines these behaviors in an orientation-dependent manner. Under ⟨110⟩ and ⟨112⟩ loading, deformation is largely shell-dominated, whereas ⟨100⟩ and ⟨111⟩ loading more strongly activates the Cu core. Mechanistically, ⟨100⟩ is characterized by Shockley partial activity and junction/lock formation in the Al shell coupled with twinning in the Cu core; ⟨110⟩ shows primarily shell partials with limited core involvement; ⟨111⟩ promotes partial-dislocation activity in both shell and core; and ⟨112⟩ produces localized, twin-dominated bands in the Al shell with shell-thickness-dependent twin extension into the Cu core. These trends are rationalized using Schmid factor considerations for 111⟨110⟩ slip and 111⟨112⟩ partial/twinning shear, together with the effects of faceted free surfaces and the Cu–Al interface. The core–shell geometry enables two concurrent interface-mediated pathways, i.e., (i) stress transfer and reduced cross-interface transmission and (ii) circumferential bypass within the shell, which together yield only slight flow-stress increases over solid Al while markedly reducing stress serrations compared with both solid Cu and solid Al. Across all orientations, the core–shell structures also exhibit delayed yielding (higher yield strain) relative to solid Cu, indicating enhanced ductility. The results provide an atomistic basis for designing Cu–Al core–shell nanoparticles for robust particle-based processing and additive manufacturing feedstock, and for informing multiscale models with mechanism-resolved, orientation-dependent inputs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Structure, Properties, and Applications of Nanomaterials and Thin Films)
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