Dislocation-driven growth of single-crystal metal foils with high-index facets

Keqiang Ji, Lai-Peng Ma (), Yang Xiang, Dandan Zhao, Xiao Kong, Mingpeng Shang, Zhuofeng Shi, Li Lin and Wencai Ren ()
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Keqiang Ji: Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang National Laboratory for Materials Science, Institute of Metal Research
Lai-Peng Ma: Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang National Laboratory for Materials Science, Institute of Metal Research
Yang Xiang: Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology
Dandan Zhao: Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology
Xiao Kong: Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology
Mingpeng Shang: Peking University, Center for Nanochemistry, Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Science, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering
Zhuofeng Shi: Peking University, School of Materials Science and Engineering
Li Lin: Peking University, Center for Nanochemistry, Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Science, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering
Wencai Ren: Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang National Laboratory for Materials Science, Institute of Metal Research

Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract Single-crystal metal foil with high-index facets is an emerging metastable platform for 2D epitaxy, catalysis and electronics. However, its controlled growth has been plagued by the lack of a selective mechanism for driving diverse high-index facets. Here, we report a versatile strategy for the deterministic growth of single-crystal metal foils with diverse high-index facets. By incorporating dislocation energy differences to lift the free energy of strong (100) texture, we selectively activated the abnormal growth of high-index facets with an enhanced driving force, thus enabling the deterministic growth of single-crystal Cu, Ni and Au foils with dozens of high-index facets. Such energized growth leads to a counterintuitive discovery that increasing the driving force reduces the retarding force of ubiquitous thermal groove, which allows one order of magnitude improvement in the growth rate by greatly improving the net driving force. This work provides both thermodynamic and kinetic insights into precise metastability engineering strategies and points to a pathway to expand the library of high-quality single-crystal metal foils with high-index facets for various applications.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-65372-0

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