title: Tilt boundary induced heteroepitaxy in chemically grown dendritic silver nanostructures on germanium and their optical properties.
abstract: Dendritic silver nanostructures were prepared by a simple dip-and-rinse galvanic displacement reaction directly on germanium surfaces. The formation and evolution of these dendrites were investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). The present results clearly show a new type of heteroepitaxy, where the large lattice mismatch between silver and germanium is accommodated at the interface by the formation of low-energy asymmetric tilt boundaries. The overgrown samples reduce the strain by introducing crystal defects. Additionally, by employing cathodoluminescence (CL) spectroscopy and imaging with a field emission gun scanning electron microscope (FEG-SEM), we provide information on the surface plasmon assisted photon emission of a stack of Ag hexagonal nanostructures. Surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) studies show the suitability of such Ag nanodendritic structures as SERS active substrates.
authors.affiliation: Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, 1/AF Bidhannagar, Kolkata-700 064, India. biswarup.satpati@saha.ac.in.
authors.forename: Tanmay
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ghosh
authors.forename: Pabitra
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Das
authors.forename: Tapas Kumar
authors.initials: TK
authors.lastname: Chini
authors.forename: Tapas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ghosh
authors.forename: Biswarup
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Satpati