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Determining the three-dimensional atomic structure of an amorphous solid

Author

Listed:
  • Yao Yang

    (University of California)

  • Jihan Zhou

    (University of California
    Peking University)

  • Fan Zhu

    (University of California)

  • Yakun Yuan

    (University of California)

  • Dillan J. Chang

    (University of California)

  • Dennis S. Kim

    (University of California)

  • Minh Pham

    (University of California)

  • Arjun Rana

    (University of California)

  • Xuezeng Tian

    (University of California)

  • Yonggang Yao

    (University of Maryland)

  • Stanley J. Osher

    (University of California)

  • Andreas K. Schmid

    (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)

  • Liangbing Hu

    (University of Maryland)

  • Peter Ercius

    (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)

  • Jianwei Miao

    (University of California)

Abstract

Amorphous solids such as glass, plastics and amorphous thin films are ubiquitous in our daily life and have broad applications ranging from telecommunications to electronics and solar cells1–4. However, owing to the lack of long-range order, the three-dimensional (3D) atomic structure of amorphous solids has so far eluded direct experimental determination5–15. Here we develop an atomic electron tomography reconstruction method to experimentally determine the 3D atomic positions of an amorphous solid. Using a multi-component glass-forming alloy as proof of principle, we quantitatively characterize the short- and medium-range order of the 3D atomic arrangement. We observe that, although the 3D atomic packing of the short-range order is geometrically disordered, some short-range-order structures connect with each other to form crystal-like superclusters and give rise to medium-range order. We identify four types of crystal-like medium-range order—face-centred cubic, hexagonal close-packed, body-centred cubic and simple cubic—coexisting in the amorphous sample, showing translational but not orientational order. These observations provide direct experimental evidence to support the general framework of the efficient cluster packing model for metallic glasses10,12–14,16. We expect that this work will pave the way for the determination of the 3D structure of a wide range of amorphous solids, which could transform our fundamental understanding of non-crystalline materials and related phenomena.

Suggested Citation

  • Yao Yang & Jihan Zhou & Fan Zhu & Yakun Yuan & Dillan J. Chang & Dennis S. Kim & Minh Pham & Arjun Rana & Xuezeng Tian & Yonggang Yao & Stanley J. Osher & Andreas K. Schmid & Liangbing Hu & Peter Erci, 2021. "Determining the three-dimensional atomic structure of an amorphous solid," Nature, Nature, vol. 592(7852), pages 60-64, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:592:y:2021:i:7852:d:10.1038_s41586-021-03354-0
    DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-03354-0
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Thomas J. Hardin & Michael Chandross & Rahul Meena & Spencer Fajardo & Dimitris Giovanis & Ioannis Kevrekidis & Michael L. Falk & Michael D. Shields, 2024. "Revealing the hidden structure of disordered materials by parameterizing their local structural manifold," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-11, December.
    2. Linze Li & Bin Ouyang & Zhengyan Lun & Haoyan Huo & Dongchang Chen & Yuan Yue & Colin Ophus & Wei Tong & Guoying Chen & Gerbrand Ceder & Chongmin Wang, 2023. "Atomic-scale probing of short-range order and its impact on electrochemical properties in cation-disordered oxide cathodes," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-9, December.
    3. Ge Wu & Chang Liu & Yong-Qiang Yan & Sida Liu & Xinyu Ma & Shengying Yue & Zhi-Wei Shan, 2024. "Elemental partitioning-mediated crystalline-to-amorphous phase transformation under quasi-static deformation," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-8, December.
    4. Yuchen Shang & Mingguang Yao & Zhaodong Liu & Rong Fu & Longbiao Yan & Long Yang & Zhongyin Zhang & Jiajun Dong & Chunguang Zhai & Xuyuan Hou & Liting Fei & GuanJie Zhang & Jianfeng Ji & Jie Zhu & He , 2023. "Enhancement of short/medium-range order and thermal conductivity in ultrahard sp3 amorphous carbon by C70 precursor," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-9, December.
    5. Chaehwa Jeong & Juhyeok Lee & Hyesung Jo & Jaewhan Oh & Hionsuck Baik & Kyoung-June Go & Junwoo Son & Si-Young Choi & Sergey Prosandeev & Laurent Bellaiche & Yongsoo Yang, 2024. "Revealing the three-dimensional arrangement of polar topology in nanoparticles," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-16, December.
    6. Wen-Long Xue & Guo-Qiang Li & Hui Chen & Yu-Chen Han & Li Feng & Lu Wang & Xiao-Ling Gu & Si-Yuan Hu & Yu-Heng Deng & Lei Tan & Martin T. Dove & Wei Li & Jiangwei Zhang & Hongliang Dong & Zhiqiang Che, 2024. "Melt-quenched glass formation of a family of metal-carboxylate frameworks," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-13, December.
    7. Birte Riechers & Amlan Das & Eric Dufresne & Peter M. Derlet & Robert Maaß, 2024. "Intermittent cluster dynamics and temporal fractional diffusion in a bulk metallic glass," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-9, December.
    8. Yao Zhang & Zezhou Li & Xing Tong & Zhiheng Xie & Siwei Huang & Yue-E Zhang & Hai-Bo Ke & Wei-Hua Wang & Jihan Zhou, 2024. "Three-dimensional atomic insights into the metal-oxide interface in Zr-ZrO2 nanoparticles," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-10, December.
    9. Jonathan Schwartz & Zichao Wendy Di & Yi Jiang & Jason Manassa & Jacob Pietryga & Yiwen Qian & Min Gee Cho & Jonathan L. Rowell & Huihuo Zheng & Richard D. Robinson & Junsi Gu & Alexey Kirilin & Steve, 2024. "Imaging 3D chemistry at 1 nm resolution with fused multi-modal electron tomography," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-10, December.
    10. Shangheng Liu & Shize Geng & Ling Li & Ying Zhang & Guomian Ren & Bolong Huang & Zhiwei Hu & Jyh-Fu Lee & Yu-Hong Lai & Ying-Hao Chu & Yong Xu & Qi Shao & Xiaoqing Huang, 2022. "A top-down strategy for amorphization of hydroxyl compounds for electrocatalytic oxygen evolution," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.
    11. Zezhou Li & Zhiheng Xie & Yao Zhang & Xilong Mu & Jisheng Xie & Hai-Jing Yin & Ya-Wen Zhang & Colin Ophus & Jihan Zhou, 2023. "Probing the atomically diffuse interfaces in Pd@Pt core-shell nanoparticles in three dimensions," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-10, December.
    12. Jonathan Schwartz & Chris Harris & Jacob Pietryga & Huihuo Zheng & Prashant Kumar & Anastasiia Visheratina & Nicholas A. Kotov & Brianna Major & Patrick Avery & Peter Ercius & Utkarsh Ayachit & Berk G, 2022. "Real-time 3D analysis during electron tomography using tomviz," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-7, December.

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