Synthesis of germanium nanocubes by a low-temperature inverse micelle solvothermal technique.

We present a low-temperature inverse micelle solvothermal approach for the synthesis of germanium nanocubes using the surfactant heptaethylene glycol monododecyl ether as a capping agent. X-ray diffraction results indicate that the as-prepared nanocubes are diamond-type pure germanium. Transmission electron microscopy observations show that the as-prepared germanium nanocubes have an edge length of 100 +/-20 nm, highly crystallized.