Reaction intermediate-induced vapor-liquid-solid growth of silicon oxide nanowires

The vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) process is the most popular vapor-phase method for the controlled growth of various one-dimensional (1D) nanostructures with the assistance of catalyst particles. In a typical VLS process, precursors for the desired deposits are introduced intentionally during the growth and catalysts are employed to promote the formation of 1D nanostructures. However, in this study, we report a new VLS growth mode for unexpected 1D nanostructure growth without directly introducing corresponding source materials. In the nanostructure growth of a compound semiconductor, ZnTe, besides the expected ZnTe nanowire arrays, the unexpected growth of jellyfish-like SiOx nanowires has been observed. The study of the growth mechanism reveals that the reaction intermediates from the ZnTe growth, Te-based vapor species, induced the growth by producing Si vapor, while Au catalysts promoted the growth of the nanostructures. Detailed growth processes in this new VLS mode have been analyzed. This study will attract attention towards composition and phase controls for the growth of compound semiconductor nanostructures. The new growth mode can be extended to realize convenient growth of other nanomaterials with lower temperature and lower cost.