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We report an efficient method to synthesize undoped and K-doped rare cubic tungsten trioxide nanowires through the thermal evaporation of WO3 powder without a catalyst. The WO3 nanowires are reproducible and stable with a low-cost growth process. The thermal evaporation processing was conducted in a three-zone horizontal tube furnace over a temperature range of 550–850 °C, where multiple substrates were placed at different temperature zones. The processing parameters, including pressure, temperature, type of gas, and flow rate, were varied and studied in terms of their influence on the morphology, aspect ratio and density of the nanowires. The morphologies of the products were observed with scanning electron microscopy. High resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction studies were conducted to further identify the chemical composition, crystal structure and growth direction of the nanostructures. Additionally, the growth mechanism has been proposed. Furthermore, we investigated the potassium doping effect on the physical properties of the nanostructures. Photoluminescence measurements show that there were shorter emission bands at 360 nm and 410 nm. Field emission measurements show that the doping effect significantly reduced the turn-on electric field and increased the enhancement factor. Furthermore, as compared with related previous research, the K-doped WO3 nanowires synthesized in this study exhibited excellent field emission properties, including a superior field enhancement factor and turn-on electric field. The study reveals the potential of WO3 nanowires in promising applications for sensors, field emitters and light-emitting diodes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Single-crystalline iron silicide nanowires were synthesized via an original approach, pre-deposition method (PDM), with significantly improved morphologies and physical characteristics as compared with those fabricated by conventional chemical vapor deposition. In the pre-deposition method, combining rapid thermal annealing (RTA) and chemical vapor deposition (CVD), iron silicide nanowires grew from the heterogeneous nucleation sites on the surface of the thin film without a catalyst or Al2O3 template. The morphology of the nanowires has been considerably improved in terms of alignment and aspect ratio. HRTEM analysis confirms that the nanowires were β-FeSi2 with a crystal direction of [111]. Physical property measurements indicate that compared with CVD β-FeSi2 nanowires, β-FeSi2 nanowires synthesized by the PDM performed better in both the field emission and magnetic properties. Magnetic property measurements show that the coercive field of PDM nanowires increased from 249 Oe to 900 Oe. Field emission studies reveal that the average β value of the CVD β-FeSi2 nanowires was 1060, while that of the PDM nanowires became 1892. Notably, with a furnace, few researchers can successfully synthesize nanowires of β-FeSi2, which is one of the most fascinating silicides for its important applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, we report a novel and efficient silicidation method to synthesize higher manganese silicide (HMS) nanowires with interesting characterization and physical properties. High density silicon nanowire arrays fabricated by chemical etching reacted with MnCl2 precursor through a unique double tube chemical vapor deposition (CVD) system, where we could enhance the vapor pressure of the precursor and provide stable Mn vapor with a sealing effect. It is crucial that the method enables the efficient formation of high quality higher manganese silicide nanowires without a change in morphology and aspect ratio during the process. X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were utilized to characterize the HMS nanowires. High-resolution TEM studies confirm that the HMS nanowires were single crystalline Mn27Si47 nanowires of Nowotny Chimney Ladder crystal structures. Magnetic property measurements show that the Mn27Si47 nanowire arrays were ferromagnetic at room temperature with a Curie temperature of over 300 K, highly depending on the relationship between the direction of the applied electric field and the axial direction of the standing nanowire arrays. Field emission measurements indicate that the 20 μm long nanowires possessed a field enhancement factor of 3307. The excellent physical properties of the HMS nanowires (NWs) make them attractive choices for applications in spintronic devices and field emitters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]