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Phoenix666 writes:

As a hard and brittle material, silicon has practically no natural elasticity. But in a new study, researchers have demonstrated that amorphous silicon can be grown into superelastic horseshoe-shaped nanowires that can undergo stretching of more than twice their original length, and still maintain their excellent electric properties.

The results are exciting news for the area of stretchable electronics, as they suggest that silicon nanowire springs could serve as a stretchable semiconducting material for future flexible, bendable electronic devices. So far, almost all of the stretchable electronics that have been demonstrated have been made of polymer and organic semiconductors, whose semiconducting properties are inferior to those of silicon.
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As the researchers explain, the new method is somewhat like a nanoscale, in-plane version of crystal pulling. The process, called line-shape engineering, involves guiding molten indium droplets to move along a pre-patterned track that is coated with amorphous silicon. As the droplet moves along the track, it takes in amorphous silicon and precipitates crystalline silicon nanowires.

The technique could prove to be useful in producing flexible electronics.

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