Brittle silicon shows exceptional plasticity on the nanoscale
Friday, August 26, 2011 - 08:01
in Physics & Chemistry
(PhysOrg.com) -- On the macroscale, silicon is a brittle material that cannot be easily molded into a desired shape. But scientists have found that a piece of silicon just 3 nm long can be stretched to more than 20 times its original length without breaking. If researchers can take advantage of the plasticity of nanoscale silicon, they could potentially mold the material into nanostructures of different shapes for technological applications.