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One interesting method to construct Nanowires, "rooted in a self-catalytic growth process as well as the thermal decomposition of natural gas" has been created by a team of Korean scientists from the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, according to HNGN.

It is a new technique that will help in the development of lithium-ion batteries. The method's "simplicity, capacity for reproduction and size-controllable nature" distinguishes it from other methods.

Scientists built an interesting redox-responsive assembly method in order to make carbon-sheathed germanium nanowires (c-GeNWs) that had a "hierarchical structure". A self-catalytic growth process was used in conjunction with thermally decomposed natural gas.

Being a synthetic process and a simple and cost-effective way of synthesizing hierarchically assembled materials from metal oxides, they can be used with other metal oxides too. Moreover, the c-GeNWs have an improved chemical and thermal stability, along with effective electrochemical properties.

"This strategy may open up an effective way to make other metallic/semiconducting nanomaterials via one-step synthetic reactions through an environmentally benign and cost-effective approach," the team said in a press release.

This study is a new way of creating nanowires along with others, such as that conducted by scientist Julian Steele and his team. They employed bismuth droplets as catalysts for nanostructure growth, reports Nanowerk.

The study was published in the Jan. 21,2016 issue of Nano Letters.