Materials Research Bulletin, Vol.40, No.9, 1551-1557, 2005
Synthesis of aluminium borate nanowires by sol-gel method
A sol-gel process followed by annealing was employed to fabricate single crystal aluminium borate (Al4B2O9 and Al18B4O33) nanowires. The diameter of Al4B2O9 nanowires synthesized at 750 degrees C annealing is ranging from 7 to 17 nm, and that of Al18B4O33 nanowires synthesized at 1050 degrees C annealing is about 38 nm. Instead of the well-known vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) mechanism, self-catalytic mechanism was used to explain the growth of the nanowires. (C) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.