Single-step synthesis of germanium nanowires encapsulated within multi-walled carbon nanotubes

A. Pandurangan, Cedric Morin, Dali Qian, Rodney Andrews, Mark Crocker

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

13 Citations (SciVal)

Abstract

We report the single-step synthesis of Ge nanowires encapsulated within multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) from a phenyltrimethylgermane (C6H5Ge(CH3)3) precursor, using a simple chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method. The MWCNT/germanium nanowires were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements. TEM analysis reveals that the nanowires consist of well crystallized Ge cores which are completely encapsulated by the sheath-like MWCNTs, the latter corresponding to a layer thickness of 5-10 nm. SEM images, corresponding to various stages of nanowire growth, indicate that MWCNT growth occurs at Ge nanoparticles and that the growing MWCNTs carry Ge as nanowires away from the nanoparticles. By optimizing the CVD parameters, nanowires can be produced with uniform length and diameter in the range 6-10 μm and 200-300 nm, respectively.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1708-1714
Number of pages7
JournalCarbon
Volume47
Issue number7
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2009

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Chemistry (all)
  • Materials Science (all)

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