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Self-healing of fractured one dimensional brittle nanostructures

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Open access
Authors
Wang, Jun
Lu, Chungsheng
Wang, Q.
Xiao, P.
Ke, F.
Bai, Y.
Shen, Y.
Wang, Y.
Liao, X.
Gao, H.
Date
2012
Type
Journal Article

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Wang, J. and Lu, C. and Wang, Q. and Xiao, P. and Ke, F.J. and Bai, Y.L. and Shen, Y.G. and Wang, Y.B. and Liao, X.Z. and Gao, H.J. 2012. Self-healing of fractured one-dimensional brittle nanostructures. Europhysics Letters. 98 (1): pp. 16010-16010.
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europhysics letters
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Department of Mechanical Engineering
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Copyright © 2012 IOP Institute of Physics. This is an author-created, un-copyedited version of an article accepted for publication in IOP Science. IOP Publishing Ltd is not responsible for any errors or omissions in this version of the manuscript or any version derived from it. The definitive publisher-authenticated version is available online at http://dx.doi.org/10.1209/0295-5075/98/16010.

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Abstract

Recent experiments have shown that fractured GaAs nanowires can heal spontaneously inside a transmission electron microscope. Here we perform molecular-dynamics simulations to investigate the atomic mechanism of this self-healing process. As the distance between two fracture surfaces becomes less than 1.0 nm, a strong surface attraction is generated by the electrostatic interaction, which results in Ga–As re-bonding at the fracture site and restoration of the nanowire. The results suggest that self-healing might be prevalent in ultrathin one-dimensional nanostructures under near vacuum conditions.