Polarity-driven quasi-3-fold composition symmetry of self-catalyzed III-V-V ternary core-shell nanowires

A quasi-3-fold composition symmetry has for the first time been observed in self-catalyzed III-V-V core-shell nanowires. In GaAsP nanowires, phosphorus-rich sheets on radial {110} planes originating at the corners of the hexagonal core were observed. In a cross section, they appear as six radial P-rich bands that originate at the six outer corners of the hexagonal core, with three of them higher in P content along <112>A direction and others along <112>B, forming a quasi-3-fold composition symmetry. We propose that these P-rich bands are caused by a curvature-induced high surface chemical potential at the small corner facets, which drives As adatoms away more efficiently than P adatoms. Moreover, their polarity related P content difference can be explained by the different adatom bonding energies at these polar corner facets. These results provide important information on the further development of shell growth in the self-catalyzed core-shell NW structure and, hence, device structure for multicomponent material systems.