Plateau–Rayleigh\nInstability in Soft-Lattice\nInorganic Solids

Plateau–Rayleigh instabilitya macroscopic\nphenomenon\ndescribing the volume-constant breakup of one-dimensional continuous\nfluidshas now been widely observed in adatoms, liquids, polymers,\nand liquid metals. This instability enables controlled wetting–dewetting\nbehavior at fluid–solid interfaces and, thereby, the self-limited\npatterning into ordered structures. However, it has yet to be observed\nin conventional inorganic solids, as the rigid lattices restrict their\n“fluidity”. Here, we report the general fluid-like Plateau–Rayleigh\ninstability of silver-based chalcogenide semiconductors featuring\nsoft-lattice ionic crystals. It enables postsynthetic morphing from\nconformal core–shell nanowires to periodically coaxial ones.\nWe reveal that such self-limited reconstruction is thermodynamically\ndriven by the surface energy and interface energy and kinetically\nfavored by the high ionic diffusion coefficients of subnanoscale soft-lattice\nshells. The resulting periodic heterostructures can be topotactically\ntransformed for epitaxial combinations of functional semiconductors\nfree from the lattice-matching rule. This fluid-like behavior in soft\ninorganic solids thus offers routes toward sophisticated nanostructures\nand controllable patterning at all-inorganic solid–solid interfaces.