Nanostructures of Sn and their enhanced, shape-dependent superconducting properties.

A noncatalytic and template-free vapor transport process was developed to make possible simultaneous growth of single-crystalline tin nanowires, nanosquares, nanodisks, and polycrystalline nanoparticles. The formation of such a rich variety of morphologies in a single growth experiment can be attributed to variations in the growth rate among different crystallographic planes when employing the vapor-solid growth mechanism. Structural characterization with high-resolution transmission electron microscopy reveals a preferential growth direction of [100] in Sn nanowires, nanosquares, and nanodisks. Shape-dependent superconducting properties are observed. These four types of Sn nanostructures all show typical diamagnetic behavior in magnetization measurements, with the three anisotropically shaped nanostructures (nanowires, nanosquares, and nanodisks) showing one order of magnitude enhancement in the working magnetic field ranges for superconductivity, compared to bulk Sn and Sn nanoparticles. The magnetic field range is broadest for nanowires, followed by nanodisks, nanosquares, and nanoparticles.