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Self‐Organized Ce 1‐ x Gd x O 2‐ y Nanowire Networks with Very Fast Coarsening Driven by Attractive Elastic Interactions
Author(s) -
Gibert Marta,
Abellán Patricia,
Benedetti Alessandro,
Puig Teresa,
Sandiumenge Felip,
García Alberto,
Obradors Xavier
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
small
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.785
H-Index - 236
eISSN - 1613-6829
pISSN - 1613-6810
DOI - 10.1002/smll.201001237
Subject(s) - nanowire , materials science , nanotechnology , self assembly , condensed matter physics , physics
Assembling arrays of ordered nanowires is a key objective for many of their potential applications. However, a lack of understanding and control of the nanowires’ growth mechanisms limits their thorough development. In this work, an appealing new path towards self‐organized epitaxial nanowire networks produced by high‐throughput solution methods is reported. Two requisites are identified to generate the nanowires: a thermodynamic driving force for an unrestricted elongated equilibrium island shape, and a very fast effective coarsening rate. These requirements are met in anisotropically strained Ce 1‐ x Gd x O 2‐ y nanowires with the (011) orientation grown on the (001) surface of LaAlO 3 substrates. Nanowires with aspect ratios above ≈100 oriented along two mutually orthogonal axes are obtained leading to labyrinthine networks. A very fast effective nanowire growth rate (≈60 nm min −1 ) for ex‐situ thermally annealed nanostructures derives from simultaneous kinetic processes occurring in a branched network. Ostwald ripening and anisotropic dynamic coalescence, both promoted by strain‐driven attractive nanowire interaction, and rapid recrystallization, enabled by fast atomic diffusion associated with a high concentration of oxygen vacancies, contribute to such an effective growth rate. This bottom‐up approach to self‐organized nanowire growth has a wide potential for many materials and functionalities.