Controlling morphology evolution of AIN nanostructures:influence of growth conditions in physical vapor transport

A series of AIN nanostructures were synthesized by an ultrahigh-temperature, catalyst-free, physical vapor transport(PVT) process. Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy(EDX), X-ray diffraction(XRD), X-Ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS),high resolution transmission electron microscopy(HRTEM) detection show that high quality AIN nanowires were prepared. Nanostructures including nanorings, nanosprings, nanohelices, chainlike nanowires, six-fold symmetric nanostructure and rod-like structure were successfully obtained by controlling the growth duration and temperature. The morphology evolution was attributed to electrostatic polar charge model and the crystalline lattice structure of AIN.