A novel facile synthesis and characterization of molybdenum nanowires

We describe a straightforward technique to synthesize pure Mo nanowires (NWs) from Mo(6)S(y)I(z) (8,2 <y + z ≤ 10) NWs as precursor templates. The structural transformations occur when Mo(6)S(y)I(z) NWs are annealed in Ar/H(2) mixture leading to the formation of pure Mo NWs with similar structures as initial morphologies. Detailed microscopic characterizations show that large diameters (>15 nm) Mo NWs are highly porous, while small diameters (<7 nm) are made of solid nanocrystalline grains. We find NW of diameter 4 nm can carry up to 30 μA current without suffering structural degradation. Moreover, NWs can be elastically deformed over several cycles without signs of plastic deformation.