Dendritic nanowire growth mediated by a self-assembled catalyst

A synthetic route to hierarchical nanowire structures based on the vapor-phase deposition and self-assembly of a catalyst on the surface of a growing nanowire, was presented. The introduction of the Mn precursor tricarbonyl (methylcyclopentadienyl)manganese (TCMn) during the vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) synthesis of InAs nanowires produced highly branched dendritic growth. A careful analysis of the resulting structures revealed that self-assembled Mn clusters initiated epitaxial branch growth. This suggests a new means to generate unique hierarchically ordered nanostructures that may lead to new applications.