Probing the Nucleation and Growth Kinetics of Bismuth Nanoparticles via In-situ Transmission Electron Microscopy

The nucleation and growth mechanism of nanoparticles is an important theory, which can guide the preparation of nanomaterials. However, it is still lacking in direct observation on the details of the evolution of intermediate state structure during nucleation and growth. In this work, the evolution process of bismuth nanoparticles induced by electron beam was revealed by in-situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM) at atomic scale. The experimental results demonstrate that the size, stable surface and crystallographic defect have important influences on the growth of Bi nanoparticles. Two non-classical growth paths including single crystal growth and polycrystalline combined growth, as well as, corresponding layer-by-layer growth mechanism along {012} stable crystal plane of Bi nanoparticles with dodecahedron structure were revealed by in-situ TEM directly. These results provide important guidance and a new approach for in-depth understanding of the nucleation and growth kinetics of nanoparticles.