Nanoscale strain engineering on the surface of a bulk TiO2 crystal.

Potapenko, Denis V; Li, Zhisheng; Kysar, Jeffery W; Osgood, Richard M · Nano Lett · 2014

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Arrays of highly strained 5-25 nm-wide regions have been prepared on rutile TiO2(110) surface through a low energy Ar ion bombardment technique. Using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and an innovative STM tip-triggered nanoexplosion approach we show experimentally that the protrusions arise from subsurface Ar-filled pockets. Continuum mechanics modeling gives good estimates of the corresponding elastic deformation. Surface strain values of up to 4% have been deduced.