Large-scale synthesis of aluminum diboride nanowires by Ni(NO3)2 catalyst

Large-scale aluminum diboride (AlB2) nanowires have been successfully fabricated for the first time using the facile catalysis method with aluminum (Al) powders and boron trichloride (BCl3) gas mixed with hydrogen and argon and Ni(NO3)2 as the catalyst. X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) were used to characterize the morphologies and structures of the samples. Our results show that the AlB2 nanowires are single crystal.