Ostwald Ripening Growth of Silicon Nitride Nanoplates

In this paper, we have demonstrated the Oswald ripening growth of single-crystalline Si3N4 nanoplates. The formation of the plates involves three basic steps: formation and aggregation of the nanoparticles, grain coalescence within selective areas, and growth of one coarsened grain at the expense of the rest of the nanoparticles via an Oswald ripening process assisted by the oriented attachment mechanism. The obtained nanoplates exhibit an extremely high aspect ratio with an ultrathin thickness, flat surface, and perfect crystal structure, and they could be utilized as substrates for constructing nanodevices.