Journal of Materials Science, Vol.48, No.4, 1555-1561, 2013
Synthesis and characterization of single crystalline GdB44Si2 nanostructures
GdB44Si2 is an excellent thermoelectric material, and nanostructured GdB44Si2 makes it possible to potentially improve its properties further. GdB44Si2 nanowires and nanobelts have been fabricated by chemical vapor deposition and characterized by electron diffraction and high-resolution electron microscopy. These nanostructures are of the YB50 structure and grew in the [010] direction. The nanowires have thickness of less than 100 nm and length of several tens of microns. The nanobelts have thickness of about a few tens of nanometers. Morphological and compositional analyses confirmed that the nanowire growth followed the vapor-liquid-solid mechanism and the nanobelts were formed by a subsequent vapor-solid process of condensation.