A novel facile synthesis and characterization of molybdenum nanowires

• Published in: Nanoscale research letters Vol. 7; no. 1; p. 567
• Main Authors: Kovic, Andrej, Znidarsic, Andrej, Jesih, Adolf, Mrzel, Ales, Gaberscek, Miran, Hassanien, Abdou
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer New York 13.10.2012; BioMed Central Ltd; Springer
• Subjects: Chemistry and Materials Science; Materials Science; Molecular Medicine; Nano Express; Nanochemistry; Nanoscale Science and Technology; Nanotechnology; Nanotechnology and Microengineering; Mo nanowires; Gas phase reduction; Noncatalytic synthesis; Hydrogenation
• ISSN: 1556-276X; 1931-7573; 1556-276X
• DOI: 10.1186/1556-276X-7-567

We describe a straightforward technique to synthesize pure Mo nanowires (NWs) from Mo 6 S y I z (8,2 < y + z ≤ 10) NWs as precursor templates. The structural transformations occur when Mo 6 S y I z NWs are annealed in Ar/H 2 mixture leading to the formation of pure Mo NWs with similar structures as initial morphologies. Detailed microscopic characterizations show that large diameters (>15 nm) Mo NWs are highly porous, while small diameters (<7 nm) are made of solid nanocrystalline grains. We find NW of diameter 4 nm can carry up to 30 μA current without suffering structural degradation. Moreover, NWs can be elastically deformed over several cycles without signs of plastic deformation.