Diameter-controlled synthesis of single-crystal silicon nanowires

Monodisperse silicon nanowires were synthesized by exploiting well-defined gold nanoclusters as catalysts for one-dimensional growth via a vapor–liquid–solid mechanism. Transmission electron microscopy studies of the materials grown from 5, 10, 20, and 30 nm nanocluster catalysts showed that the nanowires had mean diameters of 6, 12, 20, and 31 nm, respectively, and were thus well defined by the nanocluster sizes. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy demonstrated that the nanowires have single-crystal silicon cores sheathed with 1–3 nm of amorphous oxide and that the cores remain highly crystalline for diameters as small as 2 nm.