Diameter-Controlled Growth of Sb₂Te₃ Nanowires with Au Catalyst by the Vapor–Liquid–Solid Mechanism

This paper presents the results of growing chalcogenide nanowires of Sb₂Te₃ with a phase transition and a controlled diameter on Si substrates by the chemical vapor deposition method using an Au catalyst. In addition to the size of the Au catalyst, the amount of the initial Sb₂Te₃ powder is also used to control the diameter of Sb₂Te₃ nanowires. The diameter of the Sb₂Te₃ nanowires clearly increases with both the size of the Au catalyst and the amount of the Sb₂Te₃ powder. By effectively controlling the size of Au nanoparticles and the amount of the Sb₂Te₃ powder, the diameter of the Sb₂Te₃ nanowires can be controlled in a wide range from 145 to 275 nm. The influence of the size of Au nanoparticles and the amount of the Sb₂Te₃ powder on the diameter of the Sb₂Te₃ nanowires is revealed in terms of supersaturation, based in detail on the Gibbs–Thomson effect.