Mass production of very thin single-crystal silicon nitride nanobelts

We report the large-scale synthesis of very thin single-crystalline Si3N4 nanobelts with high yield via catalyst-assisted pyrolysis of polymeric precursors. The obtained nanobelts, which show a perfect crystal structure and smooth surface, are up to several millimeters in length with typical width and thickness of ∼800 nm and tens of nanometers, respectively. It is believed that the nanobelts were grown via a vapor–solid process, in which Al catalyst played a key role. This result provides a possibility for mass producing high quality, very thin Si3N4 nanobelts.