Imperfect Oriented Attachment: Dislocation Generation in Defect-Free Nanocrystals

• DOI: 10.1126/science.281.5379.969
• Publication Date: 2002-07-27T09:43:20Z
• Authors: R. Lee Penn; Jillian F. Banfield
• Keywords: 01 natural sciences; 0104 chemical sciences

Dislocations are common defects in solids, yet all crystals begin as dislocation-free nuclei. The mechanisms by which dislocations form during early growth are poorly understood. When nanocrystalline materials grow by oriented attachment at crystallographically specific surfaces and there is a small misorientation at the interface, dislocations result. Spiral growth at two or more closely spaced screw dislocations provides a mechanism for generating complex polytypic and polymorphic structures. These results are of fundamental importance to understanding crystal growth.