Charge supported growth and superplasticity of sodium nanostructures

Single-crystal sodium nanostructures (SNs) grown from sodium chloride (NaCl) powder were observed under e-beam irradiation by in situ transmission electron microscopy technique. A novel charge-supported growth (CSG) mode was proposed to explain the rich growth dynamics observed in the in situ experiments, including diameter-dependent growth velocity, self-avoiding growth mode, and seized growth. The electrostatic effect was found to be the main driving force of the CSG. Superplasticity was also found in the single-crystal SNs that showed plastic superplastic elongations of ∼300% upon tension. The small size effect was found to be the main reason for the superplasticity.