Strain-relief by single dislocation loops in calcite crystals grown on self-assembled monolayers.
Most of our knowledge of dislocation-mediated stress relaxation during epitaxial crystal growth comes from the study of inorganic heterostructures. Here we use Bragg coherent diffraction imaging to investigate a contrasting system, the epitaxial growth of calcite (CaCO3) crystals on organic self-assembled monolayers, where these are widely used as a model for biomineralization processes. The calcite crystals are imaged to simultaneously visualize the crystal morphology and internal strain fields. Our data reveal that each crystal possesses a single dislocation loop that occupies a common position in every crystal. The loops exhibit entirely different geometries to misfit dislocations generated in conventional epitaxial thin films and are suggested to form in response to the stress field, arising from interfacial defects and the nanoscale roughness of the substrate. This work provides unique insight into how self-assembled monolayers control the growth of inorganic crystals and demonstrates important differences as compared with inorganic substrates.
School of Chemistry, University of Leeds, Woodhouse Lane, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK.
Johannes
J
Ihli
Stanford PULSE Institute, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, 2575 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA.|Center for Free-Electron Laser Science (CFEL), Deutsches Elektronensynchrotron (DESY) Notkestrasse 85, 22607 Hamburg, Germany.
Jesse N
JN
Clark
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK.
Alexander S
AS
Côté
School of Chemistry, University of Leeds, Woodhouse Lane, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK.
Yi-Yeoun
0000-0002-8503-4554
YY
Kim
School of Chemistry, University of Leeds, Woodhouse Lane, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK.
Anna S
AS
Schenk
School of Chemistry, University of Leeds, Woodhouse Lane, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK.
Alexander N
AN
Kulak
Institute for Materials Research, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK.
Timothy P
TP
Comyn
School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK.
Oliver
O
Chammas
Advanced Photon Source, Argonne, Illinois 60439, USA.
Ross J
RJ
Harder
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK.
Dorothy M
DM
Duffy
London Centre for Nanotechnology, University College London, 17-19 Gordon Street, London WC1H 0AH, UK.
Ian K
IK
Robinson
School of Chemistry, University of Leeds, Woodhouse Lane, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK.
Fiona C
FC
Meldrum