Inside Front Cover: Hydrothermal Reaction Mechanism and Pathway for the Formation of K₂Ti₆O₁₃ Nanowires (Adv. Funct. Mater. 19/2008)

On p. 3018, Peng and co-workers propose an electrokinetic model to address the mechanism for the autonomous motion of metal nanoparticles (Ag and Au) in silicon during hydrofluoric acid etching. The electrochemical reaction at the catalytic metal particle surface is bipolar and the energy generated from the bipolar reaction drives the tunneling motion of the metal nanoparticle in Si that continuously catalyzes the oxidization and dissolution of silicon to form a pore. The motility of metal nanoparticles in silicon could be exploited to create desirable silicon nanostructures.