Tiny diamonds aid nanowire assembly

Researchers in the US have used the world’s smallest diamonds to help assemble nanowires just three atoms wide, which could have a range of useful applications.

Reported in the journal Nature Materials, the work involved scientists from Stanford University and the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. They used tiny diamonds, known as diamondoids, to prompt the nanowires to self-assemble in a solution. According to the researchers, this is the first time nanowires with a solid core and good electronic properties have been made in this way.

"What we have shown here is that we can make tiny, conductive wires of the smallest possible size that essentially assemble themselves," said Hao Yan, a Stanford postdoctoral researcher and lead author of the paper.

"The process is a simple, one-pot synthesis. You dump the ingredients together and you can get results in half an hour. It's almost as if the diamondoids know where they want to go."