Growth of Nanowire and Nanobelt Based Oxides by Thermal Oxidation with Gallium

Abstract

Quasi-one-dimensional nanostructure based oxides, such as nanowires and nanobelts, have attracted much attention in recent years, which exhibit unusual optical, electronic or mechanical properties as compared to those of bulk materials, due to the significant surface related defects originating from the high surface to volume ratios. In addition, some important advantages such as good high temperature stability, oxidation resistance and stable electric properties, demonstrate their potential basic building blocks for new classes of environmentally conscious electronics. Much effort has been made to develop nanoscale optical and electronic devices for the generation of renewable energy using the nanowire and nanobelt based oxides. As a simple and scalable growth method, the oxidation behavior of metals has been typically conducted on the nanostructure growth of metal oxides over several decades (Chen et al., 2008; Gu et al., 2002; Jiang et al., 2002; Ren et al., 2007; Takagi, 1957; Yu et al., 2005; Yu et al., 2006). On the other hand, Pan et al. reported the SiOx nanowire growth using gallium (Pan et al., 2002; 2003; 2005). In addition, a variety of oxide nanostructures have been synthesized by the thermal oxidation of silicide alloys with gallium (Ogino et al., 2007). In this paper, we report a variety of nanowire and nanobelt based oxides (ZnO, ┙-Fe2O3, ┚-Ga2O3) grown by the thermal oxidation with gallium in air.