Liquid Gallium-Assisted Patterned Growth of β-Ga₂O₃ Nanowires on Metallic Foils for Photocatalytic Dye Degradation

Abstract

Herein, we report a facile and effective strategy for patterned growth of one-dimensional (1D) β-Ga2O3 nanowires on metallic substrates, based on the alloying of liquid gallium as a precursor. To demonstrate this method, the specific patterns are painted using gallium on a metallic foil through screen printing, which produces an intermetallic phase by alloying. The subsequent thermal treatment involving the sputtering Au serves as a catalyst to induce the formation of β-Ga2O3 nanowires on the foil. Notably, the gallium in the intermetallic phase maintains the in situ growth of nanowires. Such a growth process depends on the Au sputtering and temperature, which well follows a classical vapor–liquid–solid mechanism. Interestingly, benefiting from the unique physiochemical attributes of liquid gallium, the convenient alloying facilitates the synthesis of the nanowires at a moderately low temperature. This synthetic approach is also universal for a series of metallic substrates including Ag, Cu, Ni, and Co foils, and the production can be scaled up easily. Furthermore, as a model catalyst, the β-Ga2O3 nanowires grown on Ag foil (β-Ga2O3/Ag) display good photocatalytic performance and easy recovery in the degradation of dyes. The work provides an avenue to prepare patterned β-Ga2O3 nanowires based on liquid gallium.