RESEARCH PAPER Synthesis and characterization of cadmium hydroxide nanowires by arc discharge method in de-ionized water Volkan Eskizeybek • Okan Demir • Ahmet Avci • Manish Chhowalla Received: 5 August 2010 / Accepted: 16 May 2011 / Published online: 29 May 2011 Ó Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011 Abstract In this study, Cd(OH) 2 nanowires have been synthesized by using arc discharge method in de-ionized water. The morphology and properties of the Cd(OH) 2 nanowires were characterized by X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), scanning electron micros- copy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and UV–Vis spectroscopy. TEM observations revealed that Cd(OH) 2 nanowires were abundant morphology in synthesized nanostructures, and the diameter of the Cd(OH) 2 nanowires ranges from 5 to 40 nm with several micrometers of length. In addition, the width of nanowires is not uniform and varies throughout the nanowire. XRD analysis revealed that the Cd(OH) 2 nanowires grow along [001] direction. Furthermore, hexagonal- and irregular-shaped Cd(OH) 2 nanoplates were synthesized during arc discharge. It was obtained that required arc current is 50 A for the effective and large scale production of Cd(OH) 2 nanowires. Furthermore, the optical properties of the nanowires have been characterized by UV–Vis spectra. By the means of the optical studies, the direct band gap of Cd(OH) 2 nanowires was found to be 4.0 eV with strong quantum size effect. It is also shown that a simple and cheap method which does not require relatively expensive vacuum and laser equipment stipulates an economical alternative for the synthesis of Cd(OH) 2 nanowires. Keywords Arc discharge  Cd(OH) 2  Nanowires  Characterization Introduction Owing to the unique size and shape-dependent physical properties, one-dimensional (1D) nanostruc- tures such as nanotubes, nanowires, and nanobelts have received increasing interest in the field of nanoscience. While most of the study has been focused on single-crystal 1D nanostructures, studies on nanoparticles assemblies into 1D nanostructures have been scarcely reported due to the difficulties associated with their preparations (Peng et al. 2000; Iijima 1991; Pan et al. 2001; Han et al. 1997; Xia et al. 2003). Remarkable advances have been made in the synthesis and characterization of 1D to fabricate complex-nanoscaled electronic or opto-electronic devices (Miao et al. 2006). 1D semiconductor nanostructures have been attracting extensive research interest in recent years because of their novel properties and potential applications. Further- more in recent years, metal hydroxide nanostructures V. Eskizeybek (&)  O. Demir  A. Avci Mechanical Engineering Department, Selcuk University, 42075 Selcuklu, Konya, TURKEY e-mail: veskizeybek@selcuk.edu.tr M. Chhowalla Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA 123 J Nanopart Res (2011) 13:4673–4680 DOI 10.1007/s11051-011-0430-z