Growth of fiberform nanostructures on metal surfaces by helium plasma irradiation

Abstract

Helium plasma irradiation to various metals leads to peculiar morphology changes as forming fiberform nanostructures called fuzz when a certain set of conditions is satisfied. In this Tutorial, we overview experimental observations about the fuzz growth process, conditions, growth rate, etc. on tungsten (W), and fuzz growth observed on other various metals. The fuzz growth mechanism, open questions about fuzz growth, and current understandings on these issues are discussed based on simulation and theoretical works. Several applications (gas sensors and photocatalytic application) with fuzz are shown. We hope that this Tutorial will help new researchers in this field to perform experiments and simulations to reveal new perspectives of fuzz.