Radial ZnO nanowire nucleation on amorphous carbons

Radial ZnO nanowire arrays were self-assembled on the amorphous carbon thin layer on silicon substrates using thermal chemical vapor transport and condensation without any metal catalysts. We experimentally performed a systematic study to clarify the mechanism of the anomalous nucleation and growth and found that the physical origin of the nucleation aggregation and the one-dimensionally radial orientation is the immiscibility in the zinc oxide-carbon system. (C) 2005 American Institute of Physics.