@article{df5304db44b147ffa4569e900a551d0e,
title = "Atomic-scale phase separation induced clustering of solute atoms",
abstract = "Dealloying typically occurs via the chemical dissolution of an alloy component through a corrosion process. In contrast, here we report an atomic-scale nonchemical dealloying process that results in the clustering of solute atoms. We show that the disparity in the adatom–substrate exchange barriers separate Cu adatoms from a Cu–Au mixture, leaving behind a fluid phase enriched with Au adatoms that subsequently aggregate into supported clusters. Using dynamic, atomic-scale electron microscopy observations and theoretical modeling, we delineate the atomic-scale mechanisms associated with the nucleation, rotation and amorphization–crystallization oscillations of the Au clusters. We expect broader applicability of the results because the phase separation process is dictated by the inherent asymmetric adatom-substrate exchange barriers for separating dissimilar atoms in multicomponent materials.",
author = "Lianfeng Zou and Penghui Cao and Yinkai Lei and Dmitri Zakharov and Xianhu Sun and House, {Stephen D.} and Langli Luo and Jonathan Li and Yang Yang and Qiyue Yin and Xiaobo Chen and Chaoran Li and Hailang Qin and Stach, {Eric A.} and Yang, {Judith C.} and Guofeng Wang and Guangwen Zhou",
note = "Funding Information: This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Division of Materials Sciences and Engineering under Award No. DESC0001135. This research used resources of the Center for Functional Nanomaterials and the Scientific Data and Computing Center, a component of the Computational Science Initiative, which is a U.S. DOE Office of Science Facility, at Brookhaven National Laboratory under Contract No. DE-SC0012704. This work used the computational resources from the Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE) through allocation TG-DMR110009, which is supported by National Science Foundation grant number OCI-1053575. This research used resources of the Environmental TEM Catalysis Consortium (ECC), which is supported by the University of Pittsburgh and Hitachi High Technologies. STEM characterization was performed at the Nanoscale Fabrication and Characterization Facility (NFCF) in the Petersen Institute of NanoScience and Engineering (PINSE) at the University of Pittsburgh. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2020, The Author(s).",
year = "2020",
month = dec,
day = "1",
doi = "10.1038/s41467-020-17826-w",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "11",
journal = "Nature Communications",
issn = "2041-1723",
publisher = "Nature Publishing Group",
number = "1",
}