Pseudo-particle continuum modelling of nanowire growth in aerotaxy

Aerotaxy growth of GaAs nanowires has shown to be capable of making GaAs wires, GaAsxP1-xwires (Metaferia, 2016) and even pn-junctions with phovovoltaic properties. With a goal of better understanding the aerotaxy process, we have developed a model for nanowire growth in Aerotaxy, based on a surface diffusion model for substrate-based growth. Our model considers the growth conditions, varying in time and space, as the seed particles and growing nanowires pass through the reactor. The growth is modeled as a chemical reaction, where gases but also particles are described as chemical species. By interpreting the continuous Au and GaAs species as wires with a length corresponding to the amount of material at that point, the particulate nature can be taken into account, without the arduous task of explicit particle modeling. Pseudo-particle modelling can potentially be used as a more general strategy for gas phase particle growth.