Three-dimensional atomic structure of amorphous solids

POSTER

Abstract

Amorphous solids are ubiquitous in our daily life and have widespread applications in science and technology. However, owing to the lack of long-range order, the 3D atomic structure of amorphous solids has eluded direct experimental determination. This fundamentally limits our understanding of the structure and properties of amorphous solids. Here, we perform atomic electron tomography (AET), a 3D reconstruction technique, which does not assume crystallinity [1,2], to determine the 3D structure of amorphous solids at the single-atom level. By reconstructing the 3D atomic coordinates of a multi-component metallic glass, we observe that several short-range order structures interconnect to form medium-range order, supporting efficient cluster packing models for metallic glasses [3]. Furthermore, we decipher the atomic packing of monatomic amorphous solids with liquid-like structure [4]. In contrast to Frank’s hypothesis that the most common motifs in monatomic liquids are icosahedra [5], we observe pentagonal bipyramid networks which give rise to medium-range order. Future work will utilize AET to probe the 3D structure and dynamics of amorphous-crystalline phase and glass transitions at the single-atom level.

1. M. C. Scott et al. Nature 483, 444 (2012).

2. J. Miao P. Ercius, S. J. L. Billinge, Science 353, aaf2157 (2016).

3. Y. Yang et al. Nature 592, 60 (2021).

4. Y. Yuan et al. Nature Materials 21, 95 (2022).

5. F. C. Frank. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. A 215, 43 (1952).

Publication: 1. Y. Yang et al. Determining the three-dimensional atomic structure of an amorphous solid, Nature 592, 60 (2021).
2. Y. Yuan et al. Three-dimensional atomic packing in amorphous solids with liquid-like structure, Nature Materials 21, 95 (2022).

Presenters

  • Colum O'Leary

    • University of California, Los Angeles

Authors

  • Colum O'Leary

    • University of California, Los Angeles

  • Yao Yang

    • University of California, Los Angeles

  • Yakun Yuan

    • University of California, Los Angeles

  • Dennis Kim

    • University of California, Los Angeles

  • Jihan Zhou

    • University of California, Los Angeles

  • Fan Zhu

    • University of California, Los Angeles

  • Dillan Chang

    • University of California, Los Angeles

  • Minh Pham

    • University of California, Los Angeles

  • Arjun Rana

    • University of California, Los Angeles

  • Yonggang Yao

    • University of Maryland

  • Yasutaka Nagaoka

    • Brown University

  • Xuezeng Tian

    • University of California, Los Angeles

  • Stanley Osher

    • University of California, Los Angeles

  • Ou Chen

    • Brown University

  • Liangbing Hu

    • University of Maryland

  • Andreas Schmid

    • Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
    • Molecular Foundry, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab

  • Peter Ercius

    • Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

  • Jianwei Miao

    • University of California, Los Angeles