Germanium catalyzed vapor–liquid–solid growth and characterization of amorphous silicon oxide nanotubes: comparison to the growth of its nanowires

Abstract

One-dimensional (1D) nanostructures were grown with a simple technique using continuous-wave laser vaporization of a Ge target containing 5 at.% Si in high-pressure (up to 0.9 MPa) Ar gas atmosphere. A maximum amount (~ 30% of all products) of 1D nanostructures was obtained at 0.9 MPa and these nanostructures were identified as amorphous silicon oxide (SiOx) nanotubes (NTs) and attached with crystalline Ge-rich NPs with elongated prolate-like or sphere-like shapes at their tips by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high-angle annular dark-field-scanning TEM, and energy dispersive X-ray line scan spectrometry. As the Ar pressure decreased from 0.9 to 0.03 MPa, the average diameters, wall thicknesses, and lengths of the NTs decreased from 57.9 to 22.9 nm, 13.2 to 6.7 nm, and 2.1 to 0.2 µm, respectively, and the tip NP size decreased from 139.0 to 41.7 nm. There was a strong correlation among the diameters, wall thicknesses, and lengths of the NTs and tip Ge NP sizes, indicating the role of molten Ge NPs as catalyst seeds for the precipitation of SiOx in a vapor–liquid–solid growth mechanism at high temperature. The SiOx precipitation quantities from the seed NPs for the NTs were compared with those of amorphous SiOx nanowires (NWs) at 0.1–0.9 MPa to clarify the growth mechanism of the NTs. We argue that smaller precipitation quantities of SiOx than those for the NWs play a critical role in the formation of cap structures with different sizes and shapes from the molten Ge NPs and the growth of the NTs.