Fig. 1

Overview of the laser ablation setup and the nanowires. a Schematic drawing of the laser ablation setup used to synthesize distinct types of boron-based nanowires. A pellet held by a holder connected to a cold finger is inserted into an alumina tube chamber while the laser enters the chamber at the other extreme. b–e Schematic drawings of the microstuctural morphology of the various types of nanowires produced in the setup in a. Four basic type of morphologies are observed: fibrous and “bare” (b), fibrous and decorated with nanoparticles (c), coarse and bare (d) and coarse and decorated with nanoparticles (e)