Journal Article
Science, vol. 362, iss. 6419, pp. 1135-1139, 2018
Authors
Jiajun Chen, Enbo Zhu, Juan Liu, Shuai Zhang, Zhaoyang Lin, Xiangfeng Duan, Hendrik Heinz, Yu Huang, James J. De Yoreo
Abstract
No barriers to growing a row
Classical nucleation theory predicts that two-dimensional islands on a surface must reach a critical size before they continue to grow; below that size, they dissolve. Chen
et al.
used phage display to select for short peptides that would bind to molybdenum disulfide (MoS
2
) (see the Perspective by Kahr and Ward). Hexagonal arrays of these peptides grew epitaxially as dimers but without a size barrier—the critical nuclei size was zero. Although two-dimensional arrays formed, growth occurred one row at time. Classical nucleation theory indeed predicts the absence of a barrier for such one-dimensional growth.
Science
, this issue p.
1135
; see also p.
1111
