A rough surface morphology is shown to significantly amplify the light-induced change in water contact angle of a photoresponsive surface. Smooth Si surfaces and fractally rough Si nanowire surfaces grown on a Si substrate were studied, both coated with a hydrophobic monolayer containing photochromic spiropyran molecules. Under visible irradiation the spiropyran is in a closed, hydrophobic form, whereas UV irradiation converts the spiropyran to a polar, hydrophilic form, reducing the contact angle. The superhydrophobic nanowire surface both amplifies the light-induced contact angle change by a factor of 2 relative to a smooth surface and reduces the contact angle hysteresis. As a result the UV-induced advancing contact angle is lower than the receding contact angle under visible irradiation, allowing water drops to be moved solely under the influence of a UV−visible light gradient. The amplification of the reversible light-induced wetting angle change was predicted using the Wenzel model for fractally rough surfaces. The model and amplification effects are expected to apply to other types of stimuli-induced contact angle changes such as that by heat or electrical potentials.

The pressure and temperature dependencies for vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) growth of Ge nanostructures on Si using chemical vapor deposition are reported. Gold nanodots self-assembled by evaporation on clean hydrogen-terminated and heated Si substrates are used to seed the liquid eutectic VLS growth. Digermane pressures are varied from 4×10−5 to 1×10−2Torr and substrate temperatures from 400 to 600°C for heteroepitaxial growth on Si(111). Two types of nanostructures are identified, nanowires and nanopillars, with a transition from nanopillar growth to nanowire growth occurring with increasing pressure. Nanowires are characterized by rapid vertical growth, long-aspect-ratio structures, and linear dependence of the growth rate on pressure. At lower pressures a transition to nanopillars is observed; these exhibit both vertical and lateral growth with typical aspect ratios of 1:2. For Si(111) substrates nanowires grow epitaxially with their growth axis along the ⟨111⟩ direction. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy shows that the Ge nanowires are relaxed to their equilibrium lattice spacings a short distance from the Si substrate interface.

We present a method to move and control drops of water on superhydrophobic surfaces using magnetic fields. Small water drops ͑volume of 5-35 l͒ that contain fractions of paramagnetic particles as low as 0.1% in weight can be moved at relatively high speed ͑7 cm/s͒ by displacing a permanent magnet placed below the surface. Coalescence of two drops has been demonstrated by moving a drop that contains paramagnetic particles towards an aqueous drop that was previously pinned to a surface defect. This approach to microfluidics has the advantages of faster and more flexible control over drop movement.

A method for obtaining detailed two-dimensional strain maps in nanowires and related nanoscale structures has been developed. The approach relies on a combination of lattice imaging by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and geometric phase analysis of the resulting micrographs using Fourier transform routines. We demonstrate the method for a germanium nanowire grown epitaxially on Si(111) by obtaining the strain components epsilon(xx), epsilon(yy), epsilon(xy), the mean dilatation, and the rotation of the lattice planes. The resulting strain maps are demonstrated to allow detailed evaluation of the strains and loading on nanowires.

The authors report the use of in situ optical reflectometry to determine the incubation time for the onset of growth, mean growth rate, and average length of Si nanowires during chemical vapor deposition vapor-liquid-solid synthesis. Results for the constructive and destructive interferences of 635nm linearly polarized laser light scattering from growing nanowire layers are compared to simulations. This real time optical reflectance approach is shown to quantitatively determine nanowire growth rates as well as reveal a pressure dependence for the time to nucleate nanowire growth.