Vapour phase growth of lead mono-oxide (PbO) nanowires with extreme aspect ratio

Although metal-oxide nanostructures are today widely investigated, lead oxides remain a not completely explored case and their nanostructures are not frequently reported in literature. Lead and oxygen forms several compounds, differing in stoichiometric ratio and crystalline structures. Lead monoxide (PbO), for example, is a promising high-Z material for radiation detection. In particular the availability of single-crystal nanostructures could allow better investigations of transport properties, which is a fundamental parameter for detectors realization but not well defined for this material. Vapor phase growth process resulted to be the best synthesis process to obtain PbO nanostructures with the right stoichiometry, as for example nanowires (or better, "nanoribbons") with an extreme length-to-thickness aspect ratio.