Nature Communications (Sep 2022)
Vacancy driven surface disorder catalyzes anisotropic evaporation of ZnO (0001) polar surface
Abstract
Evaporation and crystal growth occur at different rates on different surfaces. Here authors show dissociative evaporation from ZnO (0001) polar surfaces is accelerated by the formation of a Zn-deficient quasi-liquid layer derived from the formation and inward diffusion of Zn vacancies that stabilize the polar surface.