Article Title
Huge metastable axial strain in ultrathin heteroepitaxial vertically aligned nanowires
Authors
Vivien Schuler, Sorbonne Universités UPMC, Institut des NanoSciences de Paris, 4 place Jussieu, 75005 Paris, France
CNRS UMR7588, Institut des NanoSciences de Paris, 4 place Jussieu, 75005 Paris, France
Francisco Javier Bonilla, Sorbonne Universités UPMC, Institut des NanoSciences de Paris, 4 place Jussieu, 75005 Paris, France
CNRS UMR7588, Institut des NanoSciences de Paris, 4 place Jussieu, 75005 Paris, France
Dominique Demaille, Sorbonne Universités UPMC, Institut des NanoSciences de Paris, 4 place Jussieu, 75005 Paris, France
CNRS UMR7588, Institut des NanoSciences de Paris, 4 place Jussieu, 75005 Paris, France
Alessandro Coati, Synchrotron Soleil, L’Orme des Merisiers Saint-Aubin BP 48, 91192 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France
Alina Vlad, Synchrotron Soleil, L’Orme des Merisiers Saint-Aubin BP 48, 91192 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France
Yves Garreau, Synchrotron Soleil, L’Orme des Merisiers Saint-Aubin BP 48, 91192 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France
Université Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cité, MPQ, UMR 7162 CNRS, Batiment Condorcet, Case courrier 7021, 75205 Paris Cedex 13, France
Michèle Sauvage-Simkin, Synchrotron Soleil, L’Orme des Merisiers Saint-Aubin BP 48, 91192 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France
Anastasiia Novikova, Synchrotron Soleil, L’Orme des Merisiers Saint-Aubin BP 48, 91192 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France
Emiliano Fonda, Synchrotron Soleil, L’Orme des Merisiers Saint-Aubin BP 48, 91192 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France
Sarah Hidki, Sorbonne Universités UPMC, Institut des NanoSciences de Paris, 4 place Jussieu, 75005 Paris, France
CNRS UMR7588, Institut des NanoSciences de Paris, 4 place Jussieu, 75005 Paris, France
Victor Etgens, Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin en Yvelines 55, Av. de Paris, 78035 Versailles, France
Franck Vidal, Sorbonne Universités UPMC, Institut des NanoSciences de Paris, 4 place Jussieu, 75005 Paris, France
CNRS UMR7588, Institut des NanoSciences de Paris, 4 place Jussieu, 75005 Paris, France
Yunlin Zheng, Sorbonne Universités UPMC, Institut des NanoSciences de Paris, 4 place Jussieu, 75005 Paris, France
CNRS UMR7588, Institut des NanoSciences de Paris, 4 place Jussieu, 75005 Paris, France
Keywords
self-assembly, heteroepitaxy, nanowires, strain
Abstract
Strain engineering is a powerful tool to tailor the physical properties of materials coherently stacked in an epitaxial heterostructure. Such an approach, applied to the mature field of planar heteroepitaxy, has yielded a variety of new phenomena and devices. Recently, heteroepitaxial vertically aligned nanocomposites have emerged as alternatives to planar structures. Owing to the peculiar geometry of such nanoarchitectures, efficient strain control can be achieved, opening the way to novel functionalities. In this paper, we report a very large tensile axial strain in epitaxial transition metal nanowires embedded in an oxide matrix. We show that axial strains in excess of 1.5% can be sustained over a large thickness (a few hundred nanometers) in epitaxial nanowires having ultrasmall diameters (~3–6 nm). The axial strain depends on the diameter of the nanowires, reflecting its epitaxial nature and the balance of interface and elastic energies. Furthermore, it is experimentally shown that such strain is metastable, in agreement with the calculations performed in the framework of the Frenkel-Kontorova model. The diameter dependence and metastability provide effective ways to control the strain, an appealing feature for the design of functional nanoarchitectures.
Graphical Abstract

Publisher
Tsinghua University Press
Recommended Citation
Vivien Schuler,Francisco Javier Bonilla,Dominique Demaille,Alessandro Coati,Alina Vlad,Yves Garreau,Michèle Sauvage-Simkin,Anastasiia Novikova,Emiliano Fonda,Sarah Hidki,Victor Etgens,Franck Vidal,Yunlin Zheng, Huge metastable axial strain in ultrathin heteroepitaxial vertically aligned nanowires. NanoRes.2015, 8(6): 1964–1974