Simple and catalyst-free synthesis of silicon oxide nanowires and nanocoils

Abstract

In this paper, a simple method for synthesizing SiOx nanowires and nanocoils is presented. Si substrates with an oxide layer were placed in a tube furnace exposed to temperatures ranging from 900 degrees C to 1200 degrees C for a few hours under a mixture of. owing Ar and H-2 gas maintained at ambient pressure. Nanowires were grown from the surface when the furnace temperature was above 1000 degrees C and a high yield could be achieved at 1100 degrees C. SiOx nanocoils have also been observed and the sample treated at 1000 degrees C had the highest concentration of them. TEM images show that the nanowires and the nanocoils have an amorphous structure and analysis of EDX spectra ( obtained in the TEM) shows that x varies from 1.2 to 2.0. The mechanism of growth is discussed.