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In situ TEM observation of dissolution and regrowth dynamics of MoO2 nanowires under oxygen

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Abstract

Direct observation of the dissolution behavior of nanomaterials could provide fundamental insight to understanding their anisotropic properties and stability. The dissolution mechanism in solution and vacuum has been well documented. However, the gas-involved dissolution and regrowth have seldom been explored and the mechanisms remain elusive. We report herein, an in situ TEM study of the dissolution and regrowth dynamics of MoO2 nanowires under oxygen using environmental transmission electron microscopy (ETEM). For the first time, oscillatory dissolution on the nanowire tip is revealed, and, intriguingly, simultaneous layer-by-layer regrowth on the sidewall facets is observed, leading to a shorter and wider nanowire. Combined with first-principles calculations, we found that electron beam irradiation caused oxygen loss in the tip facets, which resulted in changing the preferential growth facets and drove the morphology reshaping.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the support of National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51390474, 11234011, and 11327901), the Ministry of Education of China (No. IRT13037) and National Young 1000 Talents Program of China. C. H. S. acknowledges the financial support from ARC Discover Project (No. DP130100268) and Future Fellowship (No. FT130100076). C. H. S. also appreciates the generous grants of CPU time from Australian National Computational Infrastructure.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center of Electron Microscopy and State Key Laboratory of Silicon Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, China

    Wentao Yuan, Jian Yu, Hengbo Li, Ze Zhang & Yong Wang

  2. ARC Centre for Electromaterials Science, School of Chemistry, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, 3800, Australia

    Chenghua Sun

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  1. Wentao Yuan
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  2. Jian Yu
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  3. Hengbo Li
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  4. Ze Zhang
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  5. Chenghua Sun
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  6. Yong Wang
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Correspondence to Chenghua Sun or Yong Wang.

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Yuan, W., Yu, J., Li, H. et al. In situ TEM observation of dissolution and regrowth dynamics of MoO2 nanowires under oxygen. Nano Res. 10, 397–404 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-016-1299-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-016-1299-z

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