Growth of single-crystalline tungsten nanowires by an alloy-catalyzed method at 850 °C

In this study, we report the growth of metallic tungsten nanowires induced by alloy catalysts (Fe–Ni) at a temperature of 850 °C. The synthesized tungsten nanowires have bottom diameters of 100 to 400 nm and tip diameters of <80 nm, and show a well-defined single-crystalline structure. The formation of the (Fe,Ni)-catalyzed W nanowires should be controlled by the vapor–solid–solid mechanism, rather than the traditional vapor–liquid–solid mechanism, because the growth temperature is significantly below the lowest eutectic temperature (1455 °C) of the Fe–Ni–W ternary system. Our study demonstrates the feasibility of synthesizing metallic nanowires via metal-catalyzed methods, which may be extended to the synthesis of some other metallic nanowires.