Growth mechanism of C-60/mesitylene nanowires

C-60/1,3,5-trimethylbenzene (mesitylene) nanowires are produced via a thin liquid film evaporation process. Using high resolution transmission electron microscopy, the crystal structure is determined to be orthorhombic with a = 1.01, b = 1.14 and c = 1.96 nm. The principal growth direction of the long nanowires is along the [100] zone axis. It is proposed that the diameter of the nanowires is governed by the thickness of the liquid film of the trimethylbenzene solution. This mechanism can probably be applied to many other so-called template-free strategies for growing nanowires. In comparison with previously reported C-60/1,2,4-trimethylbenzene nanowires, the triple-wing morphology is also observed, but is not popular in C-60/1,3,5-trimethylbenzene nanowires. When 1,4-dimethylbenzene (p-xylene) is used as solvent, the solvent molecules can also assist formation of low dimensional fractal nanoplates. However, the structure of C-60/p-xylene is unstable and transforms to face-centred cubic C-60 by losing p-xylene. The favourable growth direction of the nanoplates is along the [111] axis of the cubic C-60.