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Published Online May 1, 2008
Science DOI: 10.1126/science.1157131

Reports

Submitted on February 29, 2008
Accepted on April 16, 2008

Dislocation-Driven Nanowire Growth and Eshelby Twist

Matthew J. Bierman 1{dagger}, Y. K. Albert Lau 1{dagger}, Alexander V. Kvit 2, Andrew L. Schmitt 1, Song Jin 1*

1 Department of Chemistry, University of Wisconsin–Madison, 1101 University Avenue, Madison, WI 53706, USA.
2 Materials Science Center, University of Wisconsin–Madison, 1509 University Avenue, Madison, WI 53706, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Song Jin , E-mail: jin{at}chem.wisc.edu

{dagger}These authors contributed equally to this work.

Hierarchical nanostructures of lead sulfide nanowires resembling pine trees were synthesized via chemical vapor deposition. Structural characterization reveals a screw-like dislocation in the nanowire trunks with helically rotating epitaxial branch nanowires. It is suggested that the screw component of an axial dislocation provides the self-perpetuating steps to enable one-dimensional crystal growth, in contrast to mechanisms that require metal catalysts. The rotating trunks and branches are the consequence of the Eshelby twist of screw dislocations with a dislocation Burgers vector along <110> directions with an estimated magnitude of 6 ± 2 Å for the screw component. The results confirm the Eshelby theory of dislocations and the proposed nanowire growth mechanism could be general to many materials.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
From the Cover: Dislocation theory of chirality-controlled nanotube growth.
F. Ding, A. R. Harutyunyan, and B. I. Yakobson (2009)
PNAS 106, 2506-2509
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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)