Synthesis of germanium nanowires

We report here a novel and simple method, without using any seeds or catalysts, to synthesize single-crystal germanium nanowires with tunable 10-115 nm diameters and of 10-20 Am length by the decomposition of a precursor [( CH3(CH2)(7)CH=CH(CH2)(7)CH2NH2)(4)Ge](4+),(Cl-)4( TOG) at 36 degrees 0C in trioctylamine. The diameter of Ge nanowires can be controlled by varying the concentration of TOG in solution.