Synthesis and applications of metal silicide nanowires

Transition metal silicides represent an extremely broad set of refractory materials that are currently employed for many applications including CMOS devices, thin film coatings, bulk structural components, electrical heating elements, photovoltaics, and thermoelectrics. Many of these applications may be improved by making 1-dimensional nanomaterials. Chemical synthesis of silicide nanowires is more complicated compared to other classes of nanomaterials due to the complex phase behaviour between metals and silicon and the complex stoichiometries and structures of their resulting compounds. Recently, several synthetic strategies have been developed to overcome this challenge resulting in increasing reports of silicide nanowires in the literature. These strategies are highlighted in this feature article, along with future synthetic challenges and a review of the applications emerging from current silicide nanowires.