Gonzalez-Martinez Ignacio G, Gemming Thomas, Mendes Rafael, Bachmatiuk Alicja, Bezugly Viktor, Kunstmann Jens, Eckert Jürgen, Cuniberti Gianaurelio, Rümmeli Mark H
IFW Dresden, Institute for Complex Materials, P.O. Box D-01171 Dresden, Germany.
Institute of Materials Science and Max Bergmann Center of Biomaterials, Dresden University of Technology, 01062 Dresden, Germany.
Sci Rep. 2016 Mar 3;6:22524. doi: 10.1038/srep22524.
The catalyst-assisted nucleation and growth mechanisms for many kinds of nanowires and nanotubes are pretty well understood. At times, though, 1D nanostructures form without a catalyst and the argued growth modes have inconsistencies. One such example is the catalyst-free growth of aluminium borate nanowires. Here we develop an in-situ catalyst-free room temperature growth route for aluminium nanowires using the electron beam in a transmission electron microscope. We provide strong experimental evidence that supports a formation process that can be viewed as a phase transition in which the generation of free-volume induced by the electron beam irradiation enhances the atomic mobility within the precursor material. The enhanced atomic mobility and specific features of the crystal structure of Al5BO9 drive the atomic rearrangement that results in the large scale formation of highly crystalline aluminium borate nanowires. The whole formation process can be completed within fractions of a second. Our developed growth mechanism might also be extended to describe the catalyst-free formation of other nanowires.
对于多种纳米线和纳米管，催化剂辅助的成核和生长机制已得到相当深入的理解。然而，有时一维纳米结构在没有催化剂的情况下形成，且所提出的生长模式存在不一致之处。硼酸铝纳米线的无催化剂生长就是这样一个例子。在此，我们利用透射电子显微镜中的电子束，开发了一种用于铝纳米线的原位无催化剂室温生长路线。我们提供了有力的实验证据，支持一种可被视为相变的形成过程，其中电子束辐照诱导的自由体积的产生增强了前驱体材料内的原子迁移率。Al5BO9晶体结构的增强原子迁移率和特定特征驱动原子重排，导致大规模形成高度结晶的硼酸铝纳米线。整个形成过程可在几分之一秒内完成。我们所开发的生长机制或许还可扩展用于描述其他纳米线的无催化剂形成过程。
