Anomalous nucleation of gold nanoparticles on silicon substrateand monitoring the growth of ZnO nanowires on such structures

摘要

Nucleation of a gold catalyst on a (100) oriented silicon substrate was extensively investigated.An anomalous mechanism of nucleation was observed in the grain formation of gold nanoislands. Thechemical vapour deposition method was employed to grow zinc oxide nanowires. Zinc powder and oxygengas were used as reaction sources for the growth. Different shaped ZnO nanowires were obtained fordifferent nucleation mechanisms. The nucleation mechanism and growth evolution were monitored byscanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy.