Growth of Amorphous SiO2 Net-Like Nanobelts via a Simple Thermal Evaporation of CdS Powder

The novel SiO2 net-like nanobelts have been successfully fabricated on Au-coated Si substrates by a simple thermal evaporation of CdS powder. The as-synthesized SiO2 nanostructures were characterized by using scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), respectively. The as-grown SiO2 net-like nanobelts are rather uniformly and each nanobelt is about hundreds of micrometers in length and about 1-2 micrometers in width. The important role of CdS in the formation of the SiO2 net-like nanobelts and the possible growth mechanism of the as-grown nanobelts from the thermodynamic aspect are discussed.