Electron beam induced growth of silver nanowhiskers

•Silver nanowires network is coated with TiO2 by sol–gel method.•Samples are annealed at different temperatures and different times.•Electron beam induced rapid growth of silver nanowhiskers is demonstrated.•Optimal growth conditions such as film thickness and annealing temperature are found.•Possible growth mechanisms are proposed and discussed.

In this paper we report an electron beam induced rapid (up to several tens of nm/s) growth of silver nanowhiskers from silver nanowire networks coated with TiO2 by sol–gel method. Different growth conditions are tested and it is demonstrated that growth is optimal for samples with the film thickness in the range 50–200 nm and previously annealed at 400 °C for 5–10 min. Growth mechanism is attributed to cooperative effect of several factors including diffusion of Ag into TiO2 matrix during annealing, electromigration of Ag atoms caused by strong electric field, and presence of mechanical stresses at interfaces enhanced by thermal expansions due to local heating under e-beam illumination.