Friday, 22 October, 2010

Interlopers at the interface

Oscillatory growth of aluminium oxide nanowires

 

© Science 330, 489 (2010)

Ultrathin nanowires might play important roles in electronics, optics and medical technology in the coming years, helping to make mobile phones and computers more compact and improving the resolution of their displays. An international research team led by LMU physicist Professor Christina Scheu has for the first time succeeded in following the growth of aluminium oxide nanowires in real time at atomic scale. The team observed that the wires grow by a two-step, self-catalytic process, in a layer by layer fashion. The experiments were carried out with the help of a heating stage of a high-resolution electron microscope. The findings mark a significant step in our understanding of how nanowires containing different materials grow, and how the process can be controlled and directed, explains Scheu whose research studies are funded by the Cluster of Excellence Nanosystems Initiative Munich (NIM). (Science online, 21 October 2010)

Presseinformation der LMU (deutsch)
Press information LMU (english)
Publication "Oscillatory Mass Transport in Vapor-Liquid-Solid Growth of Sapphire Nanowires"