Growth of GaN nanowires through a pyrolysis method with vapor–liquid–solid mechanism

GaN is a promising wide-band-gap semiconductor and GaN nanowires are known to have a potential application in the field of nano-scale optoelectronics. In this report, we describe a new route for synthesizing gallium nitride nanowires, with high-purity and well crystallization, by thermal decomposition reaction of complex GaCl3·NH3 in NH3 atmosphere on Si wafers. XRD, SAED and HRTEM results revealed that the products are pure, single-crystalline GaN with hexagonal structure. The formation mechanism of gallium nitride nanowires was discussed.