A new approach was developed to prepare coaxial (coreshell) CdS-ZnS nanowires via a one-step metallo-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) process with co-fed single source precursors of CdS and ZnS. Single source precursors of CdS and ZnS with sufficiently different reactivity were prepared and paired up to form the coaxial heterostructure in a one-step process.