title: Atomic-Scale Observation of Vapor-Solid Nanowire Growth via Oscillatory Mass Transport.
abstract: In situ atomic-scale transmission electron microscopy (TEM) can provide critical information regarding growth dynamics and kinetics of nanowires. A catalyst-aided nanowire growth mechanism has been well-demonstrated by this method. By contrast, the growth mechanism of nanowires without catalyst remains elusive because of a lack of crucial information on related growth dynamics at the atomic level. Herein, we present a real-time atomic-scale observation of the growth of tungsten oxide nanowires through an environmental TEM. Our results unambiguously demonstrate that the vapor-solid mechanism dominates the nanowire growth, and the oscillatory mass transport on the nanowire tip maintains the noncatalytic growth. Autocorrelation analysis indicates that adjacent nucleation events in the nanowire growth are independent of each other. These findings may improve the understanding of the vapor-solid growth mechanism of nanowires.
authors.affiliation: Center of Electron Microscopy and State Key Laboratory of Silicon Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University , Hangzhou 310027, China.
authors.forename: Zhengfei
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Center of Electron Microscopy and State Key Laboratory of Silicon Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University , Hangzhou 310027, China.
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Center of Electron Microscopy and State Key Laboratory of Silicon Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University , Hangzhou 310027, China.
authors.forename: Hengbo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Center of Electron Microscopy and State Key Laboratory of Silicon Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University , Hangzhou 310027, China.
authors.forename: Wentao
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.affiliation: Hitachi High Technologies America , Pleasanton, California 94588, United States.
authors.forename: Xiaofeng
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: ARC Centre for Electromaterials Science, School of Chemistry, Monash University , Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia.
authors.forename: Chenghua
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Center of Electron Microscopy and State Key Laboratory of Silicon Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University , Hangzhou 310027, China.
authors.forename: Ze
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhang
keywords: in situ TEM; metal oxide; nanowire growth; oscillatory mass transport; vapor−solid