Vapor–Solid Nanotube Growth via Sidewall Epitaxy in an Environmental Transmission Electron Microscope

The growth of metal oxide nanotubes has been widely investigated; however, the mechanism regarding how nanotubes form remains elusive due to the lack of real time growth information. Here we report the growth of W18O49 nanotubes in an environmental transmission electron microscope. The real time observation of the growth dynamics indicates that the W18O49 nanotube is formed via the sidewall epitaxial growth on the leader W18O49 nanowire, which is different from the mechanism of nanowires coalescence proposed previously. Furthermore, our in situ results demonstrate that higher oxygen pressure leads to the growth of nanotubes, but low oxygen pressure results in the growth of nanowires. Such nanotube growth is presumably ascribed to the maximization of heat dissipation during fast growth. These findings may enrich our present understanding of the growth dynamics of metal oxide nanotubes and provide insight for fabricating metal oxide nanotubes.

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