Self-confined vapour-liquid-solid growth of SnS/SiOx core/shell nanowires

Abstract Tin sulfide/silicon oxide (SnS/SiOx) core/shell nanowires (NWs) were synthesized by a catalyst-free chemical vapor deposition (CVD) technique using SnS powder as the source material. The morphology and microstructure of the as-prepared NWs were characterized, and it was found that the NWs have core/shell structures composed of crystalline orthorhombic SnS cores and amorphous SiOx shells. Interestingly, there were holes encapsulated in the core/shell NWs to separate the SnS cores into segments. Based on the examinations on the morphology evolution of the NWs, we propose a self-confined vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) growth mechanism, in which silicon oxide shells confined the lateral growth of SnS cores resulting in the formation of core/shell NWs.