Stress Induced Branching of Growing Crystals on Curved Surfaces

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Abstract

If two-dimensional crystals grow on a curved surface, the Gaussian curvature of the surface induces elastic stress and affects the growth pathway. The elastic stress can be alleviated by incorporating defects or, if this is energetically unfavorable, via an elastic instability which leads to anisotropic growth with branched ribbonlike structures. This instability provides a generic route to grow defect-free crystals on curved surfaces. Depending on the elastic properties of the crystal and the geometric properties of the surface, different growth morphologies with two-, four-, and sixfold symmetry develop. Using a phase field crystal type modeling approach, we provide a microscopic understanding of the morphology selection.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Article number135502
JournalThe physical review
Volume116
Issue number13
Publication statusPublished - 1 Apr 2016
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

ORCID /0000-0003-2564-3697/work/43437568
WOS 000373202000013
Scopus 84963647565

Keywords

Research priority areas of TU Dresden

DFG Classification of Subject Areas according to Review Boards

Keywords

  • Stress induced branching, growing crystals, curved substrates

Library keywords