Nanowire

A nanowire is a nanostructure, with the diameter of the order of a nanometer. Alternatively, nanowires can be defined as structures that have a thickness or diameter constrained to tens of nanometers or less and an unconstrained length. At these scales, quantum mechanical effects are important - which coined the term 'quantum wires'. Many different types of nanowires exist, including metallic, semiconducting, and insulating. Molecular nanowires are composed of repeating molecular units either organic or inorganic.