General wet route for the growth of regular anisotropic nanostructures on silicon substrate

We proposed a general and highly efficient wet strategy for the fabrication of ordered anisotropic nanostructures on the solid substrate. The method involves the pre-deposition of colloidal precursors onto the surface of the silicon substrate and the subsequent hydrothermal crystallization. In the process of crystallization, the colloidal precursors can develop into distinct shapes. The use of the substrate can promote the nucleation and the occurrence of anisotropic growth and induces the products to grow into ordered structures. With this method, regular ZnO nanoellipsoids, SnO2 and Cd(OH)2 nanorod clusters, and Bi2S3 nanowires were prepared readily. The growth processes of the four regular nanostructures were studied through the investigations of the morphology of precursors and intermediates.