Journal
NATURE MATERIALS
Volume 10, Issue 8, Pages 596-601Publisher
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1038/NMAT3069
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Funding
- Center for Bits and Atoms [NSF CCR0122419]
- MIT Media Lab
- Korea Foundation for Advanced Studies
- Samsung
- Harvard Society of Fellows
- Wallace H. Coulter Early Career Award
- NARSAD
- NSF
- NIH
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Rational control over the morphology and the functional properties of inorganic nanostructures has been a long-standing goal in the development of bottom-up device fabrication processes. We report that the geometry of hydrothermally grown zinc oxide nanowires(1-4) can be tuned from platelets to needles, covering more than three orders of magnitude in aspect ratio (similar to 0.1-100). We introduce a classical thermodynamics-based model to explain the underlying growth inhibition mechanism by means of the competitive and face-selective electrostatic adsorption of non-zinc complex ions at alkaline conditions. The performance of these nanowires rivals that of vapour-phase-grown nanostructures(5,6), and their low-temperature synthesis (< 60 degrees C) is favourable to the integration and in situ fabrication of complex and polymer-supported devices(7-9). We illustrate this capability by fabricating an all-inorganic light-emitting diode in a polymeric microfluidic manifold. Our findings indicate that electrostatic interactions in aqueous crystal growth may be systematically manipulated to synthesize nanostructures and devices with enhanced structural control.
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