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High purity nanowires are successfully synthesized by chemical vapor deposition. In this work, we have tried synthesis of GaP nanowires with copper oxide catalyst using chemical vapor deposition method involving a metal oxide-assisted vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) growth mechanism. The synthesis process is the same as that described in existing work except for a catalyst. The mixture of GaP and Ga powder was used as GaP source for synthesis of GaP nanowires. And the mixture powder was directly vaporized in the range of 700~1000°C under argon ambient in a furnace. The wire-like products was observed in the range of 800~950°C. The diameter of nanowires increases with increasing synthesis temperature, but reversely, the length of nanowires decreases steadily. The nanowires prepared at 850°C possess perfect wire-like shape and uniform distribution of diameter. The average diameter and length of nanowires are about 50 and 150, respectively. HRTEM and EDX analysis were carried out to obtain more detailed information of its microstructure. Nevertheless, all condition of processing was set for making the high purity GaP nanowires as existing reported method, the nanowires were identified as well-crystallized gallium oxide nanowires with an amorphous outer layer. It does not accord with existing reported results. This result means that the catalysts play a key role in the growth of nanowires.

Gallium phosphide nanowires were successfully synthesized by the catalytic chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method using MgO powder-impregnated nickel oxide as catalyst and gallium phosphide and gallium powders as GaP source. The synthesis of GaP nanowires were carried out at 900°C for 30min under argon ambient and directly vaporized Ga and GaP powder. The diameter of GaP nanowires is about 25~70nm and the length is up to several tens of micrometers. The GaP NWs was core-shell structure, which consists of the GaP core and the Ga oxide outer layers. The GaP nanowires have a single-crystalline zinc blend structured crystals with the [111] growth direction. Nanowires larger than around 50nm in diameter exhibited twinning faults, which appears in the TEM images as discrete dark lines and alternating wire contrast. We demonstrate that MgO powder-impregnated nickel oxide catalyst exhibited a large catalytic effect on the growth of high-purity and -quantity gallium phosphide(GaP).

We investigated on the additive effect of carbon nanotube in the sulfur electrode on the first discharge curve and cycling property of lithium/sulfur cell. The sulfur electrode with carbon nanotube had two discharge plateau potentials and the first discharge capacity about 1200 mAh/g sulfur. The addition carbon nanotube into the sulfur electrode did not affect the first discharge behavior, but improved the cycling property of lithium/sulfur cell. The optimum content of carbon nanotube was 6 wt% of sulfur electrode.

Various physical, chemical and mechanical methods, such as inert gas condensation, chemical vapor condensation, sol-gel, pulsed wire evaporation, evaporation technique, and mechanical alloying have been used to synthesize nanoparticles. Among them, chemical vapor condensation(CVC) represents the benefit for its applicability to almost materials because a wide range of precursors are available for large-scale production with a non-agglomerated state. In this work, iron nanoparticles and nanowires have synthesized by chemical vapor condensation(CVC) process, using iron pentacarbonyl(Fe(CO)5) as precursor. The effects of processing parameters on the morphology, microstructure and size of iron nanoparticles and nanowires were studied. Iron nanoparticles and nanowires having various diameters were obtained by controlling the inflow of metallic organic precursor. Both nanoparticles and nanowires were crystallized. Characterization of obtained nanoparticles and nanowires were investigated by using a field emission scanning electron microscopy, transmission microscopy and X-ray diffraction.

The microstructure of Ni sulfides prepared by thermal sulfidation of pure Ni and their dependence of fabrication parameters were investigated by means of scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffractions. Sulfidation was made by isothermally annealing Ni with the sulfur in vacuum sealed glass ampoules at 673 K for 120 – 600s under the sulfur pressure of 100 and 220 kPa. The sulfide layers formed in the early stage were found to consist of spherical particles smaller than 0.5um, which were grown and agglomerated with increasing annealing temperature. Thickness of sulfides developed on Ni substrate was found to increase with increasing annealing time and sulfur pressure. It was also found that compositions of dominant Ni sulfides changed with varying annealing time. At the initial stage, only Ni3S2 sulfide was formed on pure Ni, which was tightly bonded to Ni substrate. On increasing annealing time, NiS sulfide was formed. On further increasing annealing time, NiS1.97 sulfide was formed, which always coexisted with NiS sulfide. A mechanism for sulfidation of Ni is proposed as follows: 3Ni + 2S Ni3S2, Ni3S2 +S NiS, NiS + S NiS1.97

Iron(Fe)-molybdenum(Mo) alloyed nanopaticles and nanowires were produced by the chemical vapor condensation(CVC) process using the pyrolysis of iron pentacarbonyl(Fe(CO)5) and molybdenum hexacarbonyl(Mo(CO)6). The influence of CVC parameter on the formation of nanoparticle, nanowire and size control was studied. The size of Fe-Mo alloyed nanoparticles can be controlled by quantity of gas flow. Also, Fe-Mo alloyed nanowires were produced by control of the work chamber pressure. Obtained nanoparticles and nanowires were investigated by field emission scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction.

FeSx nanoparticles were synthesized by the chemical vapor condensation (CVC) process using the pyrolysis of iron pentacarbonyl (Fe(CO)5) and sulfur (S). The influence of CVC parameter on the formation of nanoparticle and size distribution was studied. The synthesized nanoparticles consisting of FeS, FeS2 and Fe2O3 were nearly spherical shape and 5~40 nm in mean diameter. Obtained particles were studied by applying the field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) methods. Electrochemical properties of the electrode fabricated with synthesized nanoparticles were evaluated.

We investigated the effects of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNT) and graphitic nanofibers (GNF) on the performance of sulfur electrode for the lithium/sulfur battery. MWNT and GNF were manufactured by a thermal chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method, and then they were added as an additive in the sulfur electrode. The added sulfur electrodes were composed of 60wt% elemental sulfur (Aldrich), 20wt% acetylene black, 5wt% MWNT or GNF, and 15wt% poly ethylene oxide (PEO) dissolved in acetonitrile. No-added sulfur electrodes were prepared by mixing 60wt% elemental sulfur, 25wt% acetylene black, and 15wt% PEO. The addition of MWNT and GNF was found to give good electrochemical effects in sulfur electrode.

Ti and Ni sulfides were formed on the surface of Ti-Ni alloys by isothermal annealing at various sulfur pressures, and then microstructures of the surface sulfide layers were investigated by means of scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffractions. Morphology of sulfurized surface changed from granular shape to porous shape at the sulfur pressure of 80 kPa, which is related to the change in sulfide from NiS1.97 to NiS. Two-layered sulfide was observed in which the inner layer was mainly Ti8.2S11 , and the outer layer was a mixture of NiS1.97 and NiS. The discharge curve of the Ti and Ni sulfides cathode formed on the Ti-Ni current collector at the first cycle showed a plateau voltage of 1.6 V, and the discharge capacity was found to be about 530 mAh/g-NiS1.97.