Nanothermodynamics as a tool to describe small objects of nature

An apparatus based on a thermodynamic method is developed to determine the parameters of nanoparticles. The essence of the applied approaches is an optimization procedure. In terms of this procedure, the sizes and structures of the objects are determined using the potential energy and Helmholtz energy as objective functions for solid and liquid particles, respectively. To find the thermodynamic functions of nanoparticles, the generally accepted frame of reference, the concept of supramolecule, and the main points of statistical thermodynamics are used. It is shown that the energy stored in nanoparticles is much higher than in macroscopic objects and also that the number of atomic and molecular species entering into nanoparticles should be considered as a state variable. Using the notion of phase as applied to nanoparticles, phase transformations are considered and an analogue of the capillary pressure is found in the frame of the classical approach.