Directed growth of well-aligned zinc silicate nanowires along the channels of surfactant-assembled mesoporous silica

A simple approach to prepare well-aligned zinc silicate nanowires along the channels of surfactant-assembled mesoporous silica under hydrothermal conditions is described. In this method, surfactant-assembled mesoporous silica SBA-15 is used as an active template, where the amorphous framework provides the silica source and the orderly assembled surfactant micelles direct the growth of the zinc silicate nanowires. In this approach, the as-synthesized nanowires are identically single crystalline and can be arranged in a preferred orientation, similar to that of the channels in the mesoporous template. It was found that the Mn-doped nanowires exhibit good green luminescent properties.