Selective nucleation and self-organized crystallization

Abstract

Nucleation is an important step in crystallization, and many self-organized patterns are determined in this process. In this study, after briefly reviewing the fundamentals of nucleation theory, we take a few examples to show the significance of concave-corner-mediated nucleation in both self-organized formation of long-range-ordered patterns and in self-assembly of metallic nano wire array. We show that successive concave-corner-mediated nucleation on the growth front is an important mechanism leading to many long-range ordering effects in crystallization. This mechanism can also be applied in fabricating metallic nano wires with specific geometry, including straight metallic wire array with tunable line width and nanowires with periodic structures.