title: Oxidation resistant germanium nanowires: bulk synthesis, long chain alkanethiol functionalization, and Langmuir-Blodgett assembly.
abstract: A simple method is developed to synthesize gram quantities of uniform Ge nanowires (GeNWs) by chemical vapor deposition on preformed, monodispersed seed particles loaded onto a high surface area silica support. Various chemical functionalization schemes are investigated to passivate the GeNW surfaces using alkanethiols and alkyl Grignard reactions. The stability of functionalization against oxidation of germanium for various alkyl chain lengths is elucidated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Among all schemes tested, long chain alkanethiols (> or = C12) are found to impart the most stable GeNW passivation against oxidation upon extended exposure to ambient air. Further, the chemically functionalized oxidation-resistant nanowires are soluble in organic solvents and can be readily assembled into close-packed Langmuir-Blodgett films potentially useful for future high performance electronic devices.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA.
authors.forename: Dunwei
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Ying-Lan
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Zhuang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Hongjie
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Dai
mesh_terms: D005857:Germanium / Q000737:chemistry*; D043942:Nanotubes / Q000737:chemistry*; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D010316:Particle Size; D013438:Sulfhydryl Compounds / Q000138:chemical synthesis* / Q000737:chemistry; D013499:Surface Properties
chemical_list: D013438:Sulfhydryl Compounds; D005857:Germanium