Amorphous-nanocrystalline-amorphous phase transformations in Se induced by mechanical attrition

In this work, we report the first observation of mechanically driven amorphous-nanocrystalline-amorphous phase transformations in Se during ball milling. Complete nanocrystallization of a glassy Se sample and complete amorphization of a nanocrystalline Se sample were realized by mechanical attrition, which provides a unique process for highlighting the intrinsic phase equilibrium between the glassy and nanocrystalline states.