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Leveraging dewetting models rather than nucleation models: current crystallographic challenges in interfacial and nanomaterials research

Contemporary and prospective opportunities to exploit dewetting theory for energy conversion devices and quantum computing
  • Owen C. Ernst EMAIL logo , Yujia Liu and Torsten Boeck
Published/Copyright: March 7, 2022
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Zeitschrift für Kristallographie - Crystalline Materials
From the journal Zeitschrift für Kristallographie - Crystalline Materials Volume 237 Issue 4-5

Abstract

No scientific model has shaped crystallography as much as the classical nucleation theory (CNT). The majority of all growth processes and particle formation processes are attributed to the CNT. However, alternative descriptions exist that may be better suited to explain material formation under certain conditions. One of these alternatives is the dewetting theory (DWT). To describe the possibilities of DWT in more detail, we selected three material systems for three current application areas: Gold particles on silicon as catalysts for nanowire growth, indium particles on molybdenum as precursor material in novel solar cell concepts, and silicon layers on silicon germanium as potential wells in semiconductor quantum computers. Each of these material systems showed particular advantages of DWT over CNT. For example, the properties of surface particles with high atomic mobility could be described more realistically using DWT. Yet, there were clear indications that the DWT is not yet complete and that further research is needed to complete it. In particular, modern crystallographic challenges could serve this purpose, for example the development of semiconductor quantum computers, in order to re-evaluate known models such as the CNT and DWT and adapt them to the latest state of science and technology. For the time being, this article will give an outlook on the advantages of the DWT today and its potential for future research in crystallography.

Keywords: classical nucleation theory; dewetting theory; nanomaterials; pholtovoltaics; quantum computing; thermoelectrics
Corresponding author: Owen C. Ernst, Leibniz-Institut für Kristallzüchtung, Max-Born Str. 2, 12489 Berlin, Germany, E-mail:

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to thank a number of scientists who assisted in collecting the data, growing the nanostructures or discussing the results. Thanks go to Felix Lange, who grew the gold particles and nanowires for thermoelectrics using MBE. We thank Dr. Franziska Ringleb and Dr. Katharina Eylers for fruitful preliminary work on indium particles on molybdenum for solar applications. For extensive discussions on the topics, we thank Dr. Thomas Teubner, Dr. Setareh Sahedi-Azad, Hans-Peter Schramm and David Uebel.

  1. Author contributions: All the authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this submitted manuscript and approved submission.

  2. Research funding: None declared.

  3. Conflict of interest statement: The authors declare no conflicts of interest regarding this article.

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Received: 2021-12-20
Accepted: 2022-02-19
Published Online: 2022-03-07
Published in Print: 2022-05-25

© 2022 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. In this issue
  3. Preface
  4. Crystallography in Germany rejuvenated
  5. Original Papers
  6. CalcOPP: a program for the calculation of one-particle potentials (OPPs)
  7. Synthesis and coordination to the coinage metals of a trimethylpyrazolyl substituted 3-arylacetylacetone
  8. Occupancy disorder in the magnetic topological insulator candidate Mn1−x Sb2+x Te4
  9. Structural study of anhydrous and hydrated 5-fluorouracil co-crystals with nicotinamide and isonicotinamide
  10. Synthesis, crystal-structure refinement and properties of bastnaesite-type PrF[CO3], SmF[CO3] and EuF[CO3]
  11. Crystallographic complexity partition analysis
  12. The “ferros” of MAPbI3: ferroelectricity, ferroelasticity and its crystallographic foundations in hybrid halide perovskites
  13. Structure relations in the family of the solid solution Hf x Zr1−x O2
  14. The crystal structure of single crystalline PrCa4O[BO3]3
  15. Crystal structure of a hexacationic Ag(I)-pillarplex-dodecyl-diammonium pseudo-rotaxane as terephthalate salt
  16. Quantum transport and microwave scattering on fractal lattices
  17. Leveraging dewetting models rather than nucleation models: current crystallographic challenges in interfacial and nanomaterials research
  18. Electronic structure of the homologous series of Ruddlesden–Popper phases SrO(SrTiO3) n , (n = 0–3, ∞)
https://doi.org/10.1515/zkri-2021-2078
Keywords for this article
classical nucleation theory; dewetting theory; nanomaterials; pholtovoltaics; quantum computing; thermoelectrics

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. In this issue
  3. Preface
  4. Crystallography in Germany rejuvenated
  5. Original Papers
  6. CalcOPP: a program for the calculation of one-particle potentials (OPPs)
  7. Synthesis and coordination to the coinage metals of a trimethylpyrazolyl substituted 3-arylacetylacetone
  8. Occupancy disorder in the magnetic topological insulator candidate Mn1−x Sb2+x Te4
  9. Structural study of anhydrous and hydrated 5-fluorouracil co-crystals with nicotinamide and isonicotinamide
  10. Synthesis, crystal-structure refinement and properties of bastnaesite-type PrF[CO3], SmF[CO3] and EuF[CO3]
  11. Crystallographic complexity partition analysis
  12. The “ferros” of MAPbI3: ferroelectricity, ferroelasticity and its crystallographic foundations in hybrid halide perovskites
  13. Structure relations in the family of the solid solution Hf x Zr1−x O2
  14. The crystal structure of single crystalline PrCa4O[BO3]3
  15. Crystal structure of a hexacationic Ag(I)-pillarplex-dodecyl-diammonium pseudo-rotaxane as terephthalate salt
  16. Quantum transport and microwave scattering on fractal lattices
  17. Leveraging dewetting models rather than nucleation models: current crystallographic challenges in interfacial and nanomaterials research
  18. Electronic structure of the homologous series of Ruddlesden–Popper phases SrO(SrTiO3) n , (n = 0–3, ∞)
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