A Postsynthesis Decomposition Strategy for Group III–Nitride Quantum Wires

A simple postsynthesis strategy for obtaining sub-5 nm nanowires by uniformly reducing the diameters of presynthesized nanowires is reported. Specific experiments performed using GaN as an example indicated that the thermal decomposition of 25 nm diameter nanowires led to the formation of 5 nm diameter quantum wires, and this further resulted in a 0.5 eV bandgap blue-shift. The mechanism and kinetics of decomposition seem to be an exclusive nanoscale phenomenon, dependent on the initial size of nanowires.