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Synthesis Of Metal Oxide Surfaces And Interfaces With Crystallographic Control Using Solid-Liquid-Vapor Etching And Vapor-Liquid-Solid Growth, Beth S. Guiton, Lei Yu

Chemistry Faculty Patents

The present invention provides integrated nanostructures comprising a single-crystalline matrix of a material A containing aligned, single-crystalline nanowires of a material B, with well-defined crystallographic interfaces are disclosed. The nanocomposite is fabricated by utilizing metal nanodroplets in two subsequent catalytic steps: solid-liquid-vapor etching, followed by vapor-liquid-solid growth. The first etching step produces pores, or “negative nanowires” within a single-crystalline matrix, which share a unique crystallographic direction, and are therefore aligned with respect to one another. Further, since they are contained within a single, crystalline, matrix, their size and spacing can be controlled by their interacting strain fields, and the array …