Fabrication of single crystalline cadmium nanowires by a facile low temperature vapor phase method

Single-crystalline cadmium nanowires were successfully fabricated by vaporization of cadmium metal powders in a horizontal quartz tube furnace at 250 degrees C. The vaporization was carried out for 30 minutes and yielded nanowires of diameters of 80 to 250 nm and lengths up to several tens of microns. The nanowires were deposited on a Si (111) substrate kept at the lower temperature zone (150-175 degrees C) of the furnace. When the deposition temperature was lower than this, hexagonal nanodisks were produced. The possible mechanism for the formation of the obtained nanostructures is discussed.