Formation and characterization of SiOx nanowires and Si/SiOx core-shell nanowires via carbon-assisted growth

Large amount of SiOx nanowires and Si/SiOx core-shell nanowires on silicon wafer had been synthesized through carbon-assisted growth. Carbon-assisted growth was employed in this study due to the lack of contamination from metallic catalysts and cheaper raw materials. The nanowires produced had length up to 100 μm and diameter ranging from 20 to 40 nm. In this study, increasing the growth temperature (1100, 1200 and 1300 °C) caused a change in the morphology of the nanowires from SiOx to Si/SiOx core-shell structures while increasing the soaking time of the heating profile (1, 2 and 4 h) increased the length of nanowires.