LAUSR

Semiconducting nanowires offer many opportunities for electronic and optoelectronic device applications due to their unique geometries and physical properties. However, it is challenging to synthesize semiconducting nanowires directly on a SiO2 /Si substrate due to lattice mismatch. Here, a catalysis-free approach is developed to achieve direct synthesis of long and straight InSe nanowires on SiO2 /Si substrates through edge-homoepitaxial growth. Parallel InSe nanowires are achieved further on SiO2 /Si substrates through controlling growth conditions. The underlying growth mechanism is attributed to a selenium self-driven vapor-liquid-solid process, which is distinct from the conventional metal-catalytic vapor-liquid-solid method widely used for growing Si and III-V nanowires. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that the as-grown InSe nanowire-based visible light photodetector simultaneously possesses an extraordinary photoresponsivity of 271 A W-1 , ultrahigh detectivity of 1.57 × 1014 Jones, and a fast response speed of microsecond scale. The excellent performance of the photodetector indicates that as-grown InSe nanowires are promising in future optoelectronic applications. More importantly, the proposed edge-homoepitaxial approach may open up a novel avenue for direct synthesis of semiconducting nanowire arrays on SiO2 /Si substrates.