Synthesis of single-crystal manganese dioxide nanowires by a soft chemical process.

α- and β-MnO(2) single-crystal nanowires have been successfully synthesized through a soft chemical process, which involves no catalysts or templates. The diameters of the nanowires are about 10-40 nm and the lengths up to several tens of micrometres. Experimental results showed that MnO(2) polymorphic forms can be synthesized by selected-control reaction temperatures and their crystal phases in the nanowires were confirmed by XRD and TEM measurement. Further, the formation process of nanowires is discussed.