Ni‐Assisted Endotaxial Growth of Au Nanoparticles Within TiO₂ Nanowires

Abstract 1D hybrid nanosystems, which consist of chains of nanoparticles embedded in nanowires, exhibit distinctive physical and chemical properties. However, fabricating them through vapor‐phase growth has been challenging due to a lack of understanding of their growth mechanisms. In this study, the endotaxial growth of Au nanoparticles within rutile TiO₂ nanowires is demonstrated when small amounts of Ni are incorporated into the Au seed during vapor‐phase growth. The presence of Ni likely modifies the Au‐TiO₂ interfaces, as evidenced by the distinctive morphologies and preferential crystallographic orientation relationships (OR) between the embedded Au nanoparticles and TiO₂ nanowires. Unlike the irregularly shaped Au nanoparticles with previously reported ORs in bead‐like TiO₂ nanowires grown along , Au nanoparticles have a new OR and well‐defined shape, bounded by low‐index planes from both lattices, in prismatic nanowires along . The results underscore the significance of crystallographic factors in the vapor‐phase growth of 1D hybrid nanosystems.