Lamellar nanostructures of silicon heterogeneously solidified on graphite sheets

Molecular dynamics simulations are performed to examine the heterogeneous solidification of silicon on foreign graphite sheets (GSs). It clearly indicates that silicon atoms are concentrated to form hierarchical nanostructures composed of equidistant nanolayers. Graphite plate induces strong ordered liquid silicon layers near the surfaces of GSs. This study suggests ordered liquid layers should be the early form of the solid crystal, which determine the subsequent nucleation. The confined nanospace between two GSs favors the solidification and results in the decrease in the distance between layers. GSs make silicon atoms solidify into an hcp crystal rather than fcc structure. © 2010 American Institute of Physics.