Selective Co-catalysed growth of novel MgO fishbone fractal nanostructures

Novel MgO fishbone- or fern-like nanostructures, and Al2O3 fibre networks, have been generated for the first time from an Al2O3 matrix containing MgO and SiO2. The significance of the selective Co-catalysed growth of the eleg ant three-dimensional fractal fishbones is discussed. We have adopted the v apour-liquid-solid (V-L-S) and nucleation-aggregation (N-A) mechanisms, whi ch take effect equally during the heating process, to account for the forma tion of these uniquely stacked fractal structures. (C) 2001 Elsevier Scienc e B.V. All rights reserved.