Nanowires

This chapter provides an up-to-date overview of research on inorganic nanowires, particularly metallic and semiconducting nanowires. Nanowires are one-dimensional, anisotropic structures, small in diameter, and large in surface-to-volume ratio. Their physical properties are different than those of structures of other scales and dimensionality. While the study of nanowires is particularly challenging, scientists have made immense progress in developing synthetic methodologies for the fabrication of nanowires, developing instrumentation for their characterization, and incorporating nanowires as functional elements in advanced materials and devices. The chapter is divided into three main sections addressing the synthesis, the physical properties, and the applications of nanowires. Yet, the reader will discover many links that make these aspects of nanoscience intimately interdependent.