Guest Editorial: Chemistry and Physics of Nanowires

Abstract

It has been our greatest pleasure to put together this special issue that is intended to cover all major aspects of research devoted to the chemistry, physics, and materials science associated with nanowires. Nanostructures (i.e., structures with at least one dimension in the range of 1±100 nm) have attracted steadily growing interest due to their peculiar, fascinating properties, as well as their unique applications complementary to the bulk materials. The ability to generate such small structures is central to the advance of many areas in modern science and technology. There are a large number of opportunities that could be realized by making new types of nanostructures, or by down-sizing currently existing structures into the nanoscale regime. In comparison with zero-dimensional (0D) nanostructures (or the so-called quantum dots or nanoparticles), 1D nanostructures (including wires, rods, belts, and tubes) provide a better model system for investigating the dependence of electronic transport, optical, and mechanical properties on size confinement and dimensionality. Nanowires, in particular, should play an important role as both interconnects and active components in fabricating nanoscale electronic and photonic devices. Until very recently, the advance in the utilization of nanowires had been relatively slow, probably due to difficulties associated with the synthesis of such nanostructures with well-controlled size, phase purity, crystallinity, and chemical composition. Solutions to these synthetic challenges require a detailed, fundamental understanding and good control of the nucleation and growth processes at the nanometer scale, whether it is in the solution or vapor phase. Due to the lack of nanowires with excellent monodispersity, it has also been difficult to draw conclusions on the structure±property correlations for this class of nanostructures, and to fully exploit their potential in fabricating new types of functional devices. These challenges and opportunities have motivated many groups to launch research projects specifically focused on the synthesis, characterization, and utilization of nanowires.This special issue includes contributions from many leading figures in this area. Xia and Yang give a comprehensive review on recent research activities that involve the synthesis, characterization, self-assembly, physical properties, and applications of nanowires. The rest of the articles cover four important research themes: i) vapor-phase routes to the synthesis of nanowires; ii) solution-based methods for forming nanowires; iii) templated-directed synthesis of nanowires; and iv) self-assembly with nanowires as the building blocks and new physics associated with 1D nanostructures.In the first theme, involving vapor phase growth, Yang and co-workers discuss how several simple processes could be adopted to grow nano-and microscale hierarchical structures based on ZnO nanorods; Wang presents a brief overview of recent work related to the synthesis of metal oxide nanobelts and nanowires; Liu and co-work...

A general method for ultrathin 1D oxide nanomaterials

“…During the past decade, much effort has been devoted to the synthesis of one-dimensional (1D) nanostructures, because of the importance of understanding the dimension-confined transport phenomena and fabricating nano-devices and nanosensors. [1][2][3] Many synthetic methods, such as thermal evaporation, laser-assisted catalytic growth, and solution-based chemical reaction, have been successfully established for the preparation of a wide range of 1D nanostructures, such as Ag, Si and ZnO. [3][4][5][6] However, the size of the generated products derived from the present methods is always relatively large (above 5 nm).…”

“…[1][2][3] Many synthetic methods, such as thermal evaporation, laser-assisted catalytic growth, and solution-based chemical reaction, have been successfully established for the preparation of a wide range of 1D nanostructures, such as Ag, Si and ZnO. [3][4][5][6] However, the size of the generated products derived from the present methods is always relatively large (above 5 nm). Moreover, the ultrathin 1D nanostructures with size of 1-2 nm is rarely studied due to the lack of preparation methods for such materials.…”

Control of the Morphology of Molybdenum Dioxide Nanoparticles

“…In the past decade, many efforts were devoted to the synthesis of semiconductor nanowires], nanorods [2][3] , nanobelts 4 and nanoshells [5][6] , due to the importance of understanding the dimensionality confined transport phenomena and fabricating nanodevices and nanosensors [7][8] .…”

Development of ultra-high density silicon nanowire arrays for electronics applications

“…Most semiconductor NWs [2] are produced using the vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) growth method that has been generalized and expanded to a host of semiconductor materials by Lieber's group [10]. VLS NWs require a metal nanoparticle to seed NW growth, and NWs are often prepared as a powder or as a surfacesupported film.…”