Synthesis of metallic ReO₃ nanowires

We present the synthesis of highly crystalline metallic rhenium trioxide (ReO₃) nanowires via a simple physical vapor transport at 300 °C for the first time. Based on HRTEM, the ReO₃ nanowires exhibit a core of perfect cubic perovskite-type single crystal structure with a shell of thin amorphous and disordered structures of less than 2 nm in the near surface layers. Possibly this is due to proton intercalation induced by the surface reaction of single crystal ReO₃ with water. In this Letter the authors demonstrate the synthesis of highly single crystalline metallic ReO₃ nanowires via atmospheric pressure physical vapor deposition using ReO₃ powder precursor. The crystal structure of ReO₃ nanowires is confirmed as the simple cubic perovskite-type structure by HRTEM, XRD, and Raman measurements. The proton intercalation by water might be attributed to its unique surface defects identified from HRTEM measurements.