It has been recently reported that Group III-V compound nanowires could be synthesized using direct reaction schemes without the use of any foreign metal catalysts. Such direct reaction schemes are termed as “self-catalysis” schemes In these self-catalysis schemes, it has always been thought that the Group III metal droplet at tips lead the growth of III-V compound nanowires with subsequent dissolution and precipitation of Group V solutes [1, 2, 3].

We report first of its kind results with synthesis of III-antimonide nanowires, i.e., antimony (Sb) droplets can self-catalyze the growth of III-antimonide nanowires. Extensive experiments are conducted with GaSb system. This is a significant result in that one can actually use the same type of droplets (Sb in this case) to synthesize heterostructures involving different III-Sb compounds such as GaSb/InSb, etc. In addition, the use of Sb for tip led growth of nanowires could be advantageous for many other III-V compounds.

References:

[1] Eric A. Stach, et.al. Nano Letters, 3 (6), 867 -869, (2003)

[2] S. Vaddiraju, et.al. Nano Letters 5(8), 1625-1631 (2005)

[3] H. Li, et.al. Advanced Materials, 18(2), 216 (2006)