Selenium surface energy determination from size-dependent considerations

Nanothermodynamics is used successfully to calculate the size and shape dependencies of several material properties. The goal of this paper is to prove that the proposed nanothermodynamics model can also be used to predict bulk surface energies. To check this prediction, the bulk solid surface energy of selenium has been measured using the sessile drop technique. The experimental value, 0.291±0.025 J/m 2 , is found to be in excellent agreement with the theoretical prediction, 0.285±0.022 J/m 2 .