title: Electrically driven cation exchange for in situ fabrication of individual nanostructures.
abstract: Cation exchange (CE) has been recognized as a particularly powerful tool for the synthesis of heterogeneous nanocrystals. At present, CE can be divided into two categories, namely ion solvation-driven CE reaction and thermally activated CE reaction. Here we report an electrically driven CE reaction to prepare individual nanostructures inside a transmission electron microscope. During the process, Cd is eliminated due to Ohmic heating, whereas Cu+migrates into the crystal driven by the electrical field force. Contrast experiments reveal that the feasibility of electrically driven CE is determined by the structural similarity of the sulfur sublattices between the initial and final phases, and the standard electrode potentials of the active electrodes. Our experimental results demonstrate a strategy for the selective growth of individual nanocrystals and provide crucial insights into understanding of the microscopic pathways leading to the formation of heterogeneous structures.
authors.affiliation: SEU-FEI Nano-Pico Center, Key Laboratory of MEMS of Ministry of Education, School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 210018, China.
authors.forename: Qiubo
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: SEU-FEI Nano-Pico Center, Key Laboratory of MEMS of Ministry of Education, School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 210018, China.
authors.forename: Kuibo
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-7150-7085
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.affiliation: SEU-FEI Nano-Pico Center, Key Laboratory of MEMS of Ministry of Education, School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 210018, China.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.affiliation: SEU-FEI Nano-Pico Center, Key Laboratory of MEMS of Ministry of Education, School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 210018, China.
authors.forename: Yilong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: SEU-FEI Nano-Pico Center, Key Laboratory of MEMS of Ministry of Education, School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 210018, China.
authors.forename: Xiaodong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.affiliation: SEU-FEI Nano-Pico Center, Key Laboratory of MEMS of Ministry of Education, School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 210018, China.
authors.forename: Kaihao
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: SEU-FEI Nano-Pico Center, Key Laboratory of MEMS of Ministry of Education, School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 210018, China.|College of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 210009, China.
authors.forename: Xiaohui
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: SEU-FEI Nano-Pico Center, Key Laboratory of MEMS of Ministry of Education, School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 210018, China.
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: SEU-FEI Nano-Pico Center, Key Laboratory of MEMS of Ministry of Education, School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 210018, China.
authors.forename: Chao
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: SEU-FEI Nano-Pico Center, Key Laboratory of MEMS of Ministry of Education, School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 210018, China.
authors.forename: Weiwei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.affiliation: SEU-FEI Nano-Pico Center, Key Laboratory of MEMS of Ministry of Education, School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 210018, China.
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Materials Science Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.|Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
authors.forename: Haimei
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: SEU-FEI Nano-Pico Center, Key Laboratory of MEMS of Ministry of Education, School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 210018, China.|Center for Advanced Materials and Manufacture, Joint Research Institute of Southeast University and Monash University, Suzhou 215123, China.
authors.forename: Litao
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-2750-5004
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sun