Usefulness of Mesoporous Silica as a Template for the Preparation of Bundles of Bi Nanowires with Precisely Controlled Diameter Below 10 nm

Masaki Kitahara; Hasbuna Kamila; Atsushi Shimojima; Hiroaki Wada; Takao Mori; Ichiro Terasaki; Kazuyuki Kuroda

doi:10.1002/asia.201501433

Usefulness of Mesoporous Silica as a Template for the Preparation of Bundles of Bi Nanowires with Precisely Controlled Diameter Below 10 nm

Chem Asian J. 2016 Mar 18;11(6):900-5. doi: 10.1002/asia.201501433. Epub 2016 Feb 16.

Authors

Masaki Kitahara¹, Hasbuna Kamila¹, Atsushi Shimojima¹, Hiroaki Wada¹, Takao Mori², Ichiro Terasaki³, Kazuyuki Kuroda^{4

5}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Waseda University, Ohkubo-3, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 169-8555, Japan), Fax: (+81) 3-5286-3199.
² National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), International Center for Materials Nanoarchitechtonics (MANA), Namiki-1, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-0044, Japan.
³ Department of Physics, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, Aichi, 464-8602, Japan.
⁴ Department of Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Waseda University, Ohkubo-3, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 169-8555, Japan), Fax: (+81) 3-5286-3199. kuroda@waseda.jp.
⁵ Kagami Memorial Research Institute for Materials Science and Technology, Waseda University, Nishiwaseda-2, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 169-0051, Japan. kuroda@waseda.jp.

PMID: 26812048
DOI: 10.1002/asia.201501433

Abstract

The reduction of the diameter of Bi nanowires below 10 nm has been an important target because of the theoretical prediction with regard to significant enhancement in thermoelectric performance by size reduction. In this study, we have demonstrated the usefulness of mesoporous silica with tunable pore size as a template for the preparation of thin Bi nanowires with diameters below 10 nm. Bi was deposited within the templates through a liquid phase deposition using hexane and 1,1,3,3-tetramethyldisiloxane as a solvent and reducing agent, respectively. Bundles of thin Bi nanowires with non-crystalline frameworks were successfully obtained after the template removal. The diameter was precisely controlled between about 6 nm and 9 nm. The judicious choices of mesoporous silica and deposition conditions are critical for the successful preparation. The reliable formation of such thin Bi nanowires reported here opens up exciting new possibilities.

Keywords: bismuth; mesoporous materials; nanowires; template synthesis; thermoelectric materials.