Fabrication of single crystalline β′-SiAlON nanowires

β′-SiAlON nanowires were fabricated by sintering a powder mixture of Al, Si and SiO2 at 1600 °C in nitrogen atmosphere. The major product was one-dimensional single crystalline β′-Si6−zAlzOzN8−z (z = 1.33 to 1.45) nanowires. Leave-like plates were also found growing out from some of the nanowires. It was essential that Si was present in the starting mixture for the synthesis of the β′-SiAlON nanowires which were grown via a vapor–solid–solid mechanism.