Fluid-like Surface Layer and Its Flow Characteristics in Glassy Nanotubes.

Wingert, Matthew C; Kwon, Soonshin; Cai, Shengqiang; Chen, Renkun · Nano Lett · 2016

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

We show that amorphous silica and Si nanotubes can flow at room temperature under Giga-Pascal order stress when going to the nanometer scale. This creep behavior is unique for the amorphous nanotubes and is absent in crystalline Si nanotubes of similar dimensions. A core-shell model shows that there exists an approximately 1 nm thick viscoelastic "fluid-like" surface layer, which exhibits a room temperature viscosity equivalent to that of bulk glass above 1000 °C.