Vapor-solid-solid growth mechanism driven by an epitaxial match between solid Au Zn alloy catalyst particle and Zn O nano wire at low temperature

Nowadays, the growth of nano materials, like nano wires and nano tubes, is one of the key research areas of nano technology. However, a full picture of the growth mechanism of these quasi-one dimensional systems still needs to be achieved if these materials are to be applied electronics, biology and medicinal fields. Nevertheless, in spite of considerable advances on the growth of numerous nano wires, a clear understanding of the growth mechanism is still controversial and highly discussed. The present work provides a comprehensive picture of the precise mechanism of Zn O vapor-solid-solid (VSS) nano wire growth at low temperatures and gives the fundamental reasons responsible. We demonstrate by using a combination of synchrotron XRD and high resolution TEM that the growth dynamics at low temperatures is not governed by the well-known vapor-liquid solid (VLS) mechanisms. A critical new insight on the driving factor of VSS growth is proposed in which the VSS process occurs by a solid diffusion mechanism that is driven by a preferential oxidation process of the Zn inside the alloy catalyst induced by an epitaxial match between the Zn O(10-10) plane and the γ-Au Zn(222) plane. We believe that these results are not only important for the understanding of Zn O nano wire growth but could also have significant impact on the understanding of growth mechanisms of other nano wire systems. (author)