A team of Korean researchers from the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology has created a new technique for creating nanowires that is rooted in a self-catalytic growth process and the thermal decomposition of natural gas. The novel method will likely benefit the development of lithium-ion batteries due to the method's simplicity, capacity for reproduction and size-controllable nature.
In the study, the team created a novel redox-responsive assembly method that was used to create carbon-sheathed germanium nanowires (c-GeNWs) with a hierarchical structure. The large scale technique was accomplished using a self-catalytic growth process in conjunction with thermally decomposed natural gas.
The researchers claim that the synthetic process is a simple and cost-effective way of synthesizing hierarchically assembled materials from metal oxides on a large scale that can also be used with other metal oxides. Furthermore, the c-GeNWs possess an improved chemical and thermal stability as well as more effective electrochemical properties.
"This strategy may open up an effective way to make other metallic/semiconducting nanomaterials via one-step synthetic reactions through an environmentally benign and cost-effective approach," the team said in a press release.
The study is yet another that seeks to uncover new methods of creating nanowires along with those such as the one conducted by scientist Julian Steele and his team, who used bismuth droplets as a catalyst for nanostructure growth in November, according to Nanowerk.
The findings were published in the Jan. 21 issue of Nano Letters.
