title: In-situ Quasi-Instantaneous e-beam Driven Catalyst-Free Formation Of Crystalline Aluminum Borate Nanowires.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: 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.
authors.forename: Ignacio G
authors.initials: IG
authors.lastname: Gonzalez-Martinez
authors.affiliation: IFW Dresden, Institute for Complex Materials, P.O. Box D-01171 Dresden, Germany.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Gemming
authors.affiliation: IFW Dresden, Institute for Complex Materials, P.O. Box D-01171 Dresden, Germany.
authors.forename: Rafael
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mendes
authors.affiliation: IFW Dresden, Institute for Complex Materials, P.O. Box D-01171 Dresden, Germany.|Centre of Polymer and Carbon Materials, Polish Academy of Sciences, M. Curie-Sklodowskiej 34, Zabrze 41-819, Poland.|College of Physics, Optoelectronics and Energy &Collaborative Innovation Center of Suzhou Nano Science and Technology, Soochow University, Suzhou 215006, China.
authors.forename: Alicja
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bachmatiuk
authors.affiliation: Institute of Materials Science and Max Bergmann Center of Biomaterials, Dresden University of Technology, 01062 Dresden, Germany.
authors.forename: Viktor
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Bezugly
authors.affiliation: Institute of Materials Science and Max Bergmann Center of Biomaterials, Dresden University of Technology, 01062 Dresden, Germany.|Theoretical Chemistry, Department of Chemistry and Food Chemistry, Dresden University of Technology, 01062 Dresden, Germany.
authors.forename: Jens
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kunstmann
authors.affiliation: Erich Schmid Institute of Materials Science, Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) and Department Materials Physics, Montanuniversität Leoben Jahnstraße 12, A-8700 Leoben, Austria.
authors.forename: Jürgen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Eckert
authors.affiliation: Institute of Materials Science and Max Bergmann Center of Biomaterials, Dresden University of Technology, 01062 Dresden, Germany.
authors.forename: Gianaurelio
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cuniberti
authors.affiliation: IFW Dresden, Institute for Complex Materials, P.O. Box D-01171 Dresden, Germany.|Centre of Polymer and Carbon Materials, Polish Academy of Sciences, M. Curie-Sklodowskiej 34, Zabrze 41-819, Poland.|College of Physics, Optoelectronics and Energy &Collaborative Innovation Center of Suzhou Nano Science and Technology, Soochow University, Suzhou 215006, China.
authors.forename: Mark H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Rümmeli