Large-Scale Synthesis of Semiconductor Nanowires by Thermal Plasma

Abstract

One-dimensional (1D) semiconductor nanostructures, classified as nanowires, nanobelts and nanotubes, have shown superior properties in electric, chemical, mechanical and optical fields (Li et al., 2004; Pan et al., 2001; Pavesi et al., 2000; Q. Wang et al., 2008), and can be served as the fundamental building blocks for constructing advanced inter-connectors and nanoscale electronic, optoelectronic and sensing nanodevices (Duan et al., 2001; Huang et al., 2001; Lao et al., 2003; X.D. Wang et al., 2007). In general, the design of 1D nanostructure emphasizes to strength the growth of crystal along one direction and restrict other two dimensions to nanosize. In recent years, considerable achievements have been made on preparation of 1D nanostructures and different synthetic strategies have been developed to fabricate various 1D nanostructures, including element (Nikoobakht & El-Sayed, 2003; Lu et al., 2005; Vivekchand et al., 2004; Wirtz & Martin, 2003), oxide (Dai et al., 2003; Ohgi et al., 2005; Wu et al., 2005; Zheng et al., 2002), nitride (Kim et al., 2002; Toury et al., 2003), sulfide (Gao et al., 2005; Kar & Chaudhuri, 2005; Zhu et al., 2003), and others (Hornbostel et al., 1995; Jun et al., 2006; X.Y. Wang et al., 2002), which makes it possible to further investigate their properties and applications in nanodevices. In this chapter, we will review the recent development achieved primarily from the author’s studies addressing the key issues of semiconductor 1D nanostructures by thermal plasma, including the growth, characterization and applications of obtained products based on their unique properties related to this special synthetic route.