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Abstract: Cu2O nanocubes (edge length of 6 to 250nm) have been produced by annealing a copper grid at 300°C in air with the presence of tetraoctylammonium bromide (TOAB)-stabilized gold nanoparticles. The microstructure of the nanocubes has been investigated in details using conventional and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), and chemical analysis has been performed using energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS) in the scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM). Based on the experimental results, a possible growth mechanism is proposed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Well-aligned amorphous boron nanowires are prepared using magnetron sputtering. One type is straight without any branch and the other type is feather-like in morphology. Electron energy-loss spectroscopy has been used to detect the existence of oxygen in these boron nanowires. A Gatan imaging filter system, which is attached to a Philips CM200-field emission gun transmission electron microscope, has been used to acquire elemental mapping of boron and oxygen using inner-shell ionization edges. It is revealed that both the straight and feather-like boron nanowires possess the microstructure of the outer oxidized cover layer and inner pure boron. The thickness of the outer oxidized cover layer is about 1–2 nm. It can provide useful information for the growth mechanism of boron nanowires. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Polycrystalline Si nanowires (poly SiNWS) were successfully synthesized by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) at 440°C using silane as the Si source and Au as the catalyst. The diameters of Si nanowires range from 15 to 100 nm. The growth process indicates that to fabricate SiNWS by PECVD, pre-annealing at high temperature is necessary. A few interesting nanowires with Au nanoclusters uniformly distributed in the body of the wire were also produced by this technique. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]