A simple route to silicon-based nanostructures

Communication: High-quality Si or SiC nanowires sheathed with SiOx (shown i n the Figure; the SiOx sheath is lighter in the transmission electron micro graph) are reported to be produced by direct heating of SiC under CO atmosp here in the presence of iron powder or ferrocene. This simple route is also shown to lead to three-dimensional SiO2 nanoflowers if fine Co power is us ed as the catalyst instead of iron. Quasi-one-dimensional nanostructures ha ve potential in applied nanotechnology.