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Unravelling a solution-based formation of single-crystalline kinked wurtzite nanowires: The case of MnSe

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Abstract

The search for a novel strategy to sculpt semiconductor nanowires (NWs) at the atomistic scale is crucial for the development of new paradigms in optics, electronics, and spintronics. Thus far, the fabrication of single-crystalline kinked semiconductor NWs has been achieved mainly through the vapor−liquid−solid growth technique. In this study, we developed a new strategy for sculpting single-crystalline kinked wurtzite (WZ) MnSe NWs by triggering the nonpolar axial-oriented growth, thereby switching—at the atomistic scale—the NW growth orientation along the nonpolar axes in a facile solution-based procedure. This presents substantial challenges owing to the dominant polar c axis growth in the solution-based synthesis of one-dimensional WZ nanocrystals. More significantly, the ability to continuously switch the nonpolar axial-growth orientation allowed us to craft the kinking landscape of types 150°, 120°, 90°, and 60°. A probabilistic analysis of kinked MnSe NWs reveals the correlations of the synergy and interplay between these two sets of nonpolar axial growth-orientation switching, which determine the actual kinked motifs. Furthermore, discriminating the side-facet structures of the kinked NWs significantly strengthened the spatially selected interaction of Au nanoparticles. We envisage that such a facile solution-based strategy can be useful for synthesizing other single-crystalline kinked WZ-type transition-metal dichalcogenide NWs to develop novel functional materials with finely tuned properties.

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Acknowledgements

This study is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 91227202, 21673100 and 11504126), the RFDP (No. 20120061130006), Changbai Mountain scholars program (No. 2013007), Program for Innovative Research Team (in Science and Technology) in University of Jilin Province, the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (No. 2014M561281).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Superhard Materials, Jilin University, Changchun, 130012, China

    Xinyi Yang, Bo Zhou, Chuang Liu, Yongming Sui, Guanjun Xiao & Bo Zou

  2. Laboratory of Physics and Technology for Advanced Batteries (Ministry of Education), Jilin University, Changchun, 130012, China

    Yingjin Wei

  3. College of Physics, Jilin University, Changchun, 130012, China

    Xin Wang

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  1. Xinyi Yang
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  2. Bo Zhou
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  7. Xin Wang
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  8. Bo Zou
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Correspondence to Bo Zou.

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Yang, X., Zhou, B., Liu, C. et al. Unravelling a solution-based formation of single-crystalline kinked wurtzite nanowires: The case of MnSe. Nano Res. 10, 2311–2320 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-017-1424-7

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