Vertical growth of GaN nanowires using Cu based multi-catalyst

We report on the vertical growth of GaN nanowires by using Cu based multi-catalyst. Our study shows that the Cu based multi catalyst works well for the growth of GaN nanowires via VLS mechanism. The typical diameter and the length of nanowires are 15–250 nm and from a few micrometres to several tens of micrometres, respectively. Structural characterisation indicated that the nanowire is single-crystal with growth direction of . Importantly, Cu-Au-Ni multicatalyst leads the vertical growth of nanowires in advance of deposition of interfacial layer that is typically resulted in the random growth of GaN nanowires. Our investigation indicates that the low activation energy for the VLS growth of nanowire with Cu-Au-Ni catalyst ascribe to the epitaxial, vertical growth of GaN nanowires. These nanowires showed n-type semiconducting characteristics.