Large-area synthesis of high-quality beta-MnO(2) nanowires and the mechanism of formation through a facile mineralization process.

High-quality large-area beta-MnO(2) nanowires can be easily synthesized using KNO(3) as the mineralizing agent in a process of mineralization from Mn(NO(3))(2) aqueous solution. The morphological evolution of the beta-MnO(2) nanowires and the influences of mineralizing agents and their concentrations on the morphology of the final products were investigated in detail. KNO(3) was the best mineralizing agent among KNO(3), NaNO(3), KCl, and NaCl. More interestingly, when the concentration of the mineralizing agent KNO(3) was not saturated, only irregular short faceted nanorods, instead of nanowires, can be observed. Finally, the formation mechanism is discussed.