Colloidal CdSe quantum wires by oriented attachment

We report here a relatively low temperature (1100-180 degrees C) synthetic route to high-quality and single-crystalline CdSe nanowires using air-stable and generic chemicals. The diameter of nanowires was controlled and varied in an exceptionally small size regime, between 1.5 and 6 nm. This was achieved by using alkylamines, a single type or a mixture of two different types of amines, with different chain lengths and varying the reaction temperature. The experimental results suggest the coexistence of two types of fragments in the prewire aggregates, known as "pearl-necklace" or "string-of-pearls" in the literature, which are loosely associated and chemically fused sections.