"Induced growth of asymmetric nanocantilever arrays on polar surfaces" Wang ZL, Kong XY, Zuo JM. Physical Review Letters 91 (18): Art. No. 185502 OCT 31 2003.

Description:

Here, it is shown that the surface polarity can induce asymmetric growth on the two opposite surfaces of zinc oxide nanoribbons. Zinc oxide is a piezoelectric semiconductor material that has important applications in sensors, transducers, and actuators. By introducing oxygen vacancies in ZnO, for example, its conductivity can be tuned by orders of magnitude from semiconducting to metallic. Because of its unique anisotropic structure and the fastest growth along the c axis, a wide range of nanostructures of ZnO have been observed. The growth morphology is determined by both the kinetics (growth conditions) and the surface energy. Here is demonstrated that the surface polarization and surface termination are important factors for determining the growth of nanocantilever arrays.

The ZnO nanostructures used in our study were synthesized by thermal evaporation of oxide powders without a catalyst.  Controlling the growth temperature is important in controlling the final growth product.  The "teeth" of these nanocombs are only tens of nanometers wide by a few hundred nanometers long.

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