Growth of individual carbon composite nanostructures on the faceted TiC(111) surface

We report here the thermally activated growth of carbon composite nanostruc tures on the faceted TiC(111) single crystal surface. As a result of a high temperature anneal over 2500 K complex structures are growing from well de fined nucleation sites at the cusps of the faceted surface. The growth of t he complex shaped nanostructures is initialized by the formation of Ti nano droplets and is fed by the thermal decomposition of TiC. The shape of the n anostructures is determined by the minimum energy configuration of their en capsulating carbon shell. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserve d.