Facile fabrication and structural studies of filtered Ge nanowires from aged Al–Ge alloy

Single crystalline Ge nanowires have been fabricated by filtration of rod-shaped Ge precipitates from aged Al–Ge alloy using HCl solution. The diameter of the Ge nanowires ranged from 30 to 100 nm when the aging conditions of the Al–Ge alloy was altered. The Ge nanowires grow preferentially in the [1 1 0] direction, which is the same as observed earlier for rod-shaped Ge precipitates in the aged Al–Ge alloy.