title: Fivefold twinned boron carbide nanowires.
abstract: Chemical composition and crystal structure of fivefold twinned boron carbide nanowires have been determined by electron energy-loss spectroscopy and electron diffraction. The fivefold cyclic twinning relationship is confirmed by systematic axial rotation electron diffraction. Detailed chemical analysis reveals a carbon-rich boron carbide phase. Such boron carbide nanowires are potentially interesting because of their intrinsic hardness and high temperature thermoelectric property. Together with other boron-rich compounds, they may form a set of multiply twinned nanowire systems where the misfit strain could be continuously tuned to influence their mechanical properties.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Advanced Materials, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Chao
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yuan