title: Morphological and chemical transformations of single silica-coated CdSe/CdS nanorods upon fs-laser excitation.
abstract: Radiation-induced modifications of nanostructures are of fundamental interest and constitute a viable out-of-equilibrium approach to the development of novel nanomaterials. Herein, we investigated the structural transformation of silica-coated CdSe/CdS nanorods (NRs) under femtosecond (fs) illumination. By comparing the same nanorods before and after illumination with different fluences we found that the silica-shell did not only enhance the stability of the NRs but that the confinement of the NRs also led to novel morphological and chemical transformations. Whereas uncoated CdSe/CdS nanorods were found to sublimate under such excitations the silica-coated nanorods broke into fragments which deformed towards a more spherical shape. Furthermore, CdS decomposed which led to the formation of metallic Cd, confirmed by high-resolution electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDX), whereby an epitaxial interface with the remaining CdS lattice was formed. Under electron beam exposure similar transformations were found to take place which we followed in situ.
authors.affiliation: Debye Institute for Nanomaterials Science, Utrecht University, Princetonplein 5, 3584 CC Utrecht, The Netherlands. W.Albrecht@uu.nl A.vanBlaaderen@uu.nl.
authors.forename: Wiebke
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0800-4933
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Albrecht
authors.affiliation: Electron Microscopy for Materials Science (EMAT), University of Antwerp, Groenenborgerlaan 171, 2020 Antwerp, Belgium.
authors.forename: Bart
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Goris
authors.affiliation: Electron Microscopy for Materials Science (EMAT), University of Antwerp, Groenenborgerlaan 171, 2020 Antwerp, Belgium.
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bals
authors.affiliation: Debye Institute for Nanomaterials Science, Utrecht University, Princetonplein 5, 3584 CC Utrecht, The Netherlands. W.Albrecht@uu.nl A.vanBlaaderen@uu.nl.
authors.forename: Eline M
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5537-6545
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Hutter
authors.affiliation: Debye Institute for Nanomaterials Science, Utrecht University, Princetonplein 5, 3584 CC Utrecht, The Netherlands. W.Albrecht@uu.nl A.vanBlaaderen@uu.nl.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Vanmaekelbergh
authors.affiliation: Debye Institute for Nanomaterials Science, Utrecht University, Princetonplein 5, 3584 CC Utrecht, The Netherlands. W.Albrecht@uu.nl A.vanBlaaderen@uu.nl.
authors.forename: Marijn A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: van Huis
authors.affiliation: Debye Institute for Nanomaterials Science, Utrecht University, Princetonplein 5, 3584 CC Utrecht, The Netherlands. W.Albrecht@uu.nl A.vanBlaaderen@uu.nl.
authors.forename: Alfons
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: van Blaaderen