Molecular dynamics simulation of the surface properties of nanocrystalline uranium dioxide

The molecular dynamics method is used to simulate the nanosized UO$_2$ crystals. The phase-transition temperatures are calculated for the nanosized crystals of the uranium dioxide. It is demonstrated that the melting point and the temperature of the transition to the superionic state (melting of the anion sublattice) of the crystals decrease with decreasing sizes. In particular, melting point ($T_m\sim$ 2300 K) for the cubic nanocrystal with a size of 3.3 nm is lower than the melting point of the single crystal by almost 1000 K. The calculated surface energies are in agreement with the experimental results. The dependence of the surface energy on the size of the UO$_2$ nanocrystals is obtained. The effect of the nanocrystal temperature on the surface energy is studied. The temperature dependence of the thickness of the melt layer is obtained in the framework of the model of the heterogeneous melting. The parameters and dependences can be used for the further analysis of the microstructure properties of nuclear fuel in working systems.