Microwave-assisted synthesis of Ge nanostructures for energy storage

Nano-sized galvanic replacement reaction is a powerful tool to synthesize complicate nanostructures. In this work the Kauzlarich lab (Xiao, et al., ACS Applied Nano Materials, 2020) report an unconventional galvanic replacement reaction between GeI₂ and Ag NPs with morphological and compositional control. An inward and outward diffusion mechanism is proposed and supported by imaging the different stages of the reaction and analysis of the products. The unique mechanism allows the reaction to be self-terminated and achieve nanometer-sized accuracy. The galvanic reaction may be applied to other semiconductors and could serve as a powerful alternative to the classic nucleation-growth mechanism and subsequently advance the scale up and further applications.

For more information, please read the research article here: https://doi.org/10.1021/acsanm.0c00803