Deformation Twinning of a Silver Nanocrystal under High Pressure

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• 作者：Xiaojing Huang ; Wenge Yang ; Ross Harder ; Yugang Sun ; Ming Lu ; Yong S. Chu ; Ian K. Robinson ; Ho-kwang Mao
• 刊名：Nano Letters
• 出版年：2015
• 出版时间：November 11, 2015
• 年：2015
• 卷：15
• 期：11
• 页码：7644-7649
• 全文大小：397K
• ISSN：1530-6992

文摘

Within a high-pressure environment, crystal deformation is controlled by complex processes such as dislocation motion, twinning, and phase transitions, which change materials鈥?microscopic morphology and alter their properties. Understanding a crystal鈥檚 response to external stress provides a unique opportunity for rational tailoring of its functionalities. It is very challenging to track the strain evolution and physical deformation from a single nanoscale crystal under high-pressure stress. Here, we report an in situ three-dimensional mapping of morphology and strain evolutions in a single-crystal silver nanocube within a high-pressure environment using the Bragg Coherent Diffractive Imaging (CDI) method. We observed a continuous lattice distortion, followed by a deformation twining process at a constant pressure. The ability to visualize stress-introduced deformation of nanocrystals with high spatial resolution and prominent strain sensitivity provides an important route for interpreting and engineering novel properties of nanomaterials.