It has been shown that InP semiconductor nanowires carry charge and excitons efficiently and also exhibit very high optical efficiency. Their mechanical properties are extremely important, as mechanical strain strongly influences the electric, optical and magnetic properties.
However, this information is very limited due to the difficulties associated with the mechanical testing of nanowires. In this work, the mechanical properties and fracture mechanisms of individual InP TSL nanowires in
tension were ascertained by means of in situ uniaxial tensile tests in a transmission electron microscope.
The elastic modulus, failure strain, and tensile strength along the [111] direction were determined. No evidence of inelastic deformation mechanisms was found before fracture, which took place in a brittle manner along the twin boundary. Moreover, a good agreement with the results of Molecular Dynamic Simulations was obtained.
Mechanical Behavior of InP Twinning Superlattice Nanowires
Z. Liu, I. Papadimitiriou, M. Castillo-Rodríguez, C. Wang, G. Esteban-Manzanares, X. Yuan, H.H. Tan, J.M. Molina-Aldareguia, J. LLorca.
Nano Letters 19, 4490-4497, 2019
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.9b01300
