Synthesis of single crystal metal sulfide nanowires and nanowire arrays by chemical precipitation in templates.

Single crystal metal sulfide nanowires and nanowire arrays were synthesized by chemical precipitation reaction in the channels of anodic aluminum oxide templates under ambient conditions with simple inorganic salts as precursors. Aligned metal sulfide arrays were achieved by dissolving the template. This template-directed synthesis yielded well-defined nanowires of varied lengths and diameters for almost all precursors. The crystal quality of metal sulfide nanowires was concentration-dependent, high single crystal nanowires were achieved at low concentrations.