Article comprising small diameter nanowires and method for making the same

Abstract

A nanowire structure that may be used to fabricate small diameter and aligned nanowires, e.g., having a diameter of less than 50 nm and more preferably, less than 10 nm, is disclosed. The structure includes an alloy substrate having at least a first phase and a second phase, wherein the first phase is catalytic and the second phase is less catalytic (weakly or non-catalytic). A plurality of small diameter nanowires are grown from the first phase of the alloy substrate. Each one of the plurality of nanowires is substantially vertically aligned relative to the substrate and preferably, the average deviation from full vertical alignment is less than 25 degrees, and more preferably less than 15 degrees. The alloy substrate is fabricated with an alloy system of catalytic and non (or less) catalytic elements that are phase separated, e.g., by spinodal decomposition or nucleation-and-growth type transformation. Also disclosed is a method for making small diameter nanowires comprising providing the phase-separated substrate including catalytic regions, elongating the substrate to reduce the diameters of the catalytic regions, and then growing the plurality of nanowires from the reduced-diameter catalytic regions. The small diameter nanowires may be used for many applications, including microwave amplifier devices, field emission display devices, and lithium-rechargeable batteries.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.