Experimental measurement of the diamond nucleation landscape reveals classical and nonclassical features.

ABSTRACT: Nucleation is a core scientific concept that describes the formation of new phases and materials. While classical nucleation theory is applied across wide-ranging fields, nucleation energy landscapes have never been directly measured at the atomic level, and experiments suggest that nucleation rates often greatly exceed the predictions of classical nucleation theory. Multistep nucleation via metastable states could explain unexpectedly rapid nucleation in many contexts, yet experimental energy landscapes supporting such mechanisms are scarce, particularly at nanoscale dimensions. In this work, we measured the nucleation energy landscape of diamond during chemical vapor deposition, using a series of diamondoid molecules as atomically defined protonuclei. We find that 26-carbon atom clusters

SUBMITTER: Gebbie MA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6099900 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature