Screw Dislocation-Driven Growth of Two-Dimensional Nanoplates

Abstract

We report the dislocation-driven growth of two-dimensional (2D) nanoplates. They are another type of dislocation-driven nanostructure and could find application in energy storage, catalysis, and nanoelectronics. We first focus on nanoplates of zinc hydroxy sulfate (3Zn(OH)(2)·ZnSO(4)·0.5H(2)O) synthesized from aqueous solutions. Both powder X-ray and electron diffraction confirm the zinc hydroxy sulfate (ZHS) crystal structure as well as their conversion to zinc oxide (ZnO). Scanning electron, atomic force, and transmission electron microscopy reveal the presence of screw dislocations in the ZHS nanoplates. We further demonstrate the generality of this mechanism through the growth of 2D nanoplates of α-Co(OH)(2), Ni(OH)(2), and gold that can also follow the dislocation-driven growth mechanism. Finally, we propose a unified scheme general to any crystalline material that explains the growth of nanoplates as well as different dislocation-driven nanomaterial morphologies previously observed through consideration of the relative crystal growth step velocities at the dislocation core versus the outer edges of the growth spiral under various supersaturations.

Tin Diselenide Molecular Precursor for Solution‐Processable Thermoelectric Materials

“…Bright field TEM images of some of the particles also displayed multiple contours with different contrast ( Figure S6c) also indicating screw dislocation phenomenon. However,i nc ontrast with previous nanostructures obtained by screw dislocation, [12] larger SnSe 2 structures were produced from the screw growth of multiple dislocations generated at the edge of the growing structure.T hese multiple growth centres resulted in afaster overall growth at the nanostructure edges than the centre and thus led to the formation of flowerlike structures (Figure 2c and d). [11] Thes mallest SnSe 2 structures produced following our procedure were found to originate from asingle or few dislocations,resulting in approximately planar circular pyramids due to the overall faster vertical growth of the center of the structure compared to the edges ( Figure 2b).…”

Synthesis and morpho-structural characterization of nanostructured magnesium hydroxide obtained by a hydrothermal method

“…4a) in which the degradation of the area of sample can be seen after the high-resolution study. The low stability of hydroxides under the high energy electron beam of the transmission electron microscopy has been reported by some authors [40,41]. Fig.…”

Topological insulator nanostructures

“…For example, MBE growth of TI chalcogenides on substrates such as GaAs and Si initiates from a dislocation [107,108]. Screw dislocation-driven growth of 2D ZnO nanoplates by chemical synthesis has also been observed [109]. Similar growth mechanism may be possible in TI nanomaterials.…”