<i>In Situ</i> Atomic-Scale Observation of Droplet Coalescence Driven Nucleation and Growth at Liquid/Solid Interfaces

Li, Junjie; Wang, Zhongchang; Deepak, Francis Leonard

doi:10.1021/acsnano.7b00943

Cited by 38 publications

(50 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…It is well‐known that bulk Bi metal has a low melting point of 544.4 K and the melting temperature of its nanoparticles can be as low as room temperature due to the size effect 29. As such, the as‐obtained thin amorphous Bi nanosheet can act as an ideal model system to probe the crystal nucleation and growth mechanism 30, 31, 32, 33, 34…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

In Situ Atomic‐Scale Study of Particle‐Mediated Nucleation and Growth in Amorphous Bismuth to Nanocrystal Phase Transformation

Chen

Wang

et al. 2018

Advanced Science

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Understanding classical and nonclassical mechanisms of crystal nucleation and growth at the atomic scale is of great interest to scientists in many disciplines. However, fulfilling direct atomic‐scale observation still poses a significant challenge. Here, by taking a thin amorphous bismuth (Bi) metal nanosheet as a model system, direct atomic resolution of the crystal nucleation and growth initiated from an amorphous state of Bi metal under electron beam inside an aberration‐corrected transmission electron microscope is provided. It is shown that the crystal nucleation and growth in the phase transformation of Bi metal from amorphous to crystalline structure takes place via the particle‐mediated nonclassical mechanism instead of the classical atom‐mediated mechanism. The dimension of the smaller particles in two contacted nanoparticles and their mutual orientation relationship are critical to governing several coalescence pathways: total rearrangement pathway, grain boundary migration‐dominated pathway, and surface migration‐dominated pathway. Sequential strain analyses imply that migration of the grain boundary is driven by the strain difference in two Bi nanocrystals and the coalescence of nanocrystals is a defect reduction process. The findings may provide useful information to clarify the nanocrystal growth mechanisms of other materials on the atomic scale.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

In Situ Atomic‐Scale Study of Particle‐Mediated Nucleation and Growth in Amorphous Bismuth to Nanocrystal Phase Transformation

Chen

Wang

et al. 2018

Advanced Science

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“…Interestingly, in contrast to the rapid coalescence of two liquid droplets, the coalescence of a nanocrystal with a liquid droplet takes place via a clear step-migration mechanism. These results offer insights into the dynamic process at liquid/solid interfaces, which may have implications for many functionalities of materials and their applications [6].…”

mentioning

confidence: 90%

Direct Atomic-Scale Observation of Droplets Coalescence Driven Nucleation and Growth of Supported Bismuth Nanocrystal in the TEM

Deepak

2018

Microsc Microanal

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“…Some researchers have studied the crystal growth process during solidification of a Bi and colloid model. [ 15–21 ] For single‐component materials, such as Bi, the mechanism of crystal growth is relatively clear. The atoms interact to form BiBi bonds with the same arrangement as the Bi crystal to form a periodic Bi crystal structure (crystallization along the [11 – 0] direction).…”

Section: Figurementioning

confidence: 99%

Intermediate Structures of Nucleation and Growth during Solidification of CuO Constrained by Graphene

Yuan

Zhou

et al. 2020

Adv Materials Inter

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clusters or amorphous intermediates before the formation of thermodynamically stable nuclei. [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] Meanwhile, prenucleation during solidification has not been studied owing to the lack of effective techniques. Thus, the existence of intermediate structures and the manner of transformation into nuclei remain unclear and require atomic-scale investigation.Some researchers have studied the crystal growth process during solidification of a Bi and colloid model. [15][16][17][18][19][20][21] For single-component materials, such as Bi, the mechanism of crystal growth is relatively clear. The atoms interact to form BiBi bonds with the same arrangement as the Bi crystal to form a periodic Bi crystal structure (crystallization along the [11 -0] direction). [21] However, for the crystal growth processes of multicomponent materials (such as binary materials), the manner of precipitation for each component remains unknown; for example, it is unclear whether sequential precipitation or simultaneous coordinated precipitation occurs during crystal growth. Answering this question is challenging because of the complexity of the growth process and technical limitations.Studying intermediate structures during the prenucleation and precipitation of each component in multicomponent materials is important for understanding solidification theory. In this study, nucleation and crystal growth processes during the solidification of CuO nanoparticles (NPs) constrained by graphene were observed on the atomic scale by in situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The results show that the intermediate structure of the nucleus is different from the crystal, amorphous, and quasicrystal structures. The crystal grows more quickly in the [002] direction than in the [111 -] orientations; therefore, two layers of Cu were observed at the solid-liquid interface along the [002] orientation. Ultimately, a perfect CuO crystal formed. These observations provide intuitive evidence for understanding the microscopic solidification mechanisms of this system. In this experiment, Cu nanoparticles were prepared by mechanical ball milling and high temperature reduction. First, pure Cu powder (5 g, 99.99%, 100 mesh) was treated by ball milling in 100 mL CuCl 2 solution with [Cl − ] = 0.75 × 10 −2 mol L −1 . The rotating speed of ball milling was 400 rpm and the duration was 25 h. The size of the mill balls was 15 mm and the ballto-powder weight ratio was 20:1. The as-milled product Important solid-state information regarding solidification remains unknown, such as the intermediate structure before nucleation and precipitation pathways for each component in multicomponent materials during crystal growth. Herein, a unique intermediate structure with unequal lattice structure (the main performance is the curved lattice fringes and the unequal interplanar spacing) is observed in situ at the atomic level before CuO nucleation. The results of experiments and molecular dynamics simulations indicate that the formation of this intermediate may be...

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In Situ Atomic-Scale Observation of Droplet Coalescence Driven Nucleation and Growth at Liquid/Solid Interfaces

Cited by 38 publications

References 59 publications

In Situ Atomic‐Scale Study of Particle‐Mediated Nucleation and Growth in Amorphous Bismuth to Nanocrystal Phase Transformation

In Situ Atomic‐Scale Study of Particle‐Mediated Nucleation and Growth in Amorphous Bismuth to Nanocrystal Phase Transformation

Direct Atomic-Scale Observation of Droplets Coalescence Driven Nucleation and Growth of Supported Bismuth Nanocrystal in the TEM

Intermediate Structures of Nucleation and Growth during Solidification of CuO Constrained by Graphene

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