SYNTHESIS AND PROPERTIES OF ONE-DIMENSIONAL ALUMINUM NITRIDE NANOSTRUCTURES
Abstract
This article presents a brief review of the recent research progresses achieved in the field of one-dimensional (1D) aluminum nitride (AlN) nanostructures. It mainly covers three aspects: The first one is to introduce the synthetic strategies for several classic 1D AlN nanostructures (such as nanofibers, nanobelts, nanorods, nanowires, nanotips, etc.) including template-confined reaction, arc discharge, catalyst-assisted growth, and vapor transport and related growth methods. The second is to elaborate some special physical properties, such as field emission and photoluminescence, which associate with the uniqueness of 1D AlN nanostructures. It is revealed that aligned AlN 1D nanostructures have low turn-on and threshold voltages, high emission current and small current fluctuation, and that the photoluminescence of AlN nanobelts are different from those of conventional AlN material. The third is to briefly illustrate the potential application of these 1D AlN nanostructures in composite materials. It is found that AlN nanowire is a good reinforcement for improving the mechanical and thermal properties of metal matrix composites, which can be expected to be utilized as packaging material with high strength and low thermal expansion. Finally, we summarize the major challenges in this field. Among them, a thorough understanding of the growth mechanism of 1D AlN nanostructures is the most important issue, and more precisely controlled growth is required to obtain tailored AlN nanostructures according to device applications.
