Coalescence of nanobranches: a new growth mechanism for single crystal nanobelts

We report a fundamentally new growth mechanism for single crystalline nanobelts, namely, the growth and coalescence of nanobranches. The growth process of the nanobelts includes four typical steps such as nucleation and growth of the stem, nucleation and growth of the nanobranches at the expense of the stem, widening and geometrical coalescence of the nanobranches, and finally having nanobelts with perfect structure. The unique widening growth process of the nanobranches is apparently driven by the lattice distortion within the surface area of the stem. The continuous geometrical coalescence between the neighboring branches leads to the formation of the beltlike structures.