Potential well

The electronic and optical properties of materials are affected by size and shape. Well-established technical achievements including quantum dots were derived from size manipulation and investigation for their theoretical corroboration on quantum confinement effect.[3] The major part of the theory is the behaviour of the exciton resembles that of an atom as its surrounding space shortens. A rather good approximation of an exciton's behaviour is the 3-D model of a particle in a box.[4] The solution of this problem provides a sole mathematical connection between energy states and the dimension of space. Decreasing the volume or the dimensions of the available space, increases the energy of the states. Shown in the diagram is the change in electron energy level and bandgap between nanomaterial and its bulk state.

The following equation shows the relationship between energy level and dimension spacing:

${\displaystyle \psi _{n_{x},n_{y},n_{z}}={\sqrt {\frac {8}{L_{x}L_{y}L_{z}}}}\sin \left({\frac {n_{x}\pi x}{L_{x}}}\right)\sin \left({\frac {n_{y}\pi y}{L_{y}}}\right)\sin \left({\frac {n_{z}\pi z}{L_{z}}}\right)}$

${\displaystyle E_{n_{x},n_{y},n_{z}}={\frac {\hbar ^{2}\pi ^{2}}{2m}}\left[\left({\frac {n_{x}}{L_{x}}}\right)^{2}+\left({\frac {n_{y}}{L_{y}}}\right)^{2}+\left({\frac {n_{z}}{L_{z}}}\right)^{2}\right]}$

Research results[5] provide an alternative explanation of the shift of properties at nanoscale. In the bulk phase, the surfaces appear to control some of the macroscopically observed properties. However, in nanoparticles, surface molecules do not obey the expected configuration in space. As a result, surface tension changes tremendously.

The classical mechanic explanation employs the Young–Laplace law to provide evidence on how pressure drop advances from scale to scale.

The Young–Laplace equation can give a background on the investigation of the scale of forces applied to the surface molecules:

${\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}\Delta P&=\gamma \nabla \cdot {\hat {n}}\\&=2\gamma H\\&=\gamma \left({\frac {1}{R_{1}}}+{\frac {1}{R_{2}}}\right)\end{aligned}}}$

Under the assumption of spherical shape ${\displaystyle R_{1}=R_{2}=R}$ and resolving the Young–Laplace equation for the new radii ${\displaystyle R}$ (nm), we estimate the new ${\displaystyle \Delta P}$(GPa). The smaller the radii, the greater the pressure is present. The increase in pressure at the nanoscale results in strong forces toward the interior of the particle. Consequently, the molecular structure of the particle appears to be different from the bulk mode, especially at the surface. These abnormalities at the surface are responsible for changes of inter-atomic interactions and bandgap.[6][7]