PROCESS FOR PRODUCING SEMICONDUCTOR NANOWIRES AND NANOWIRE-GRAPHENE HYBRID PARTICULATES

Disclosed is a process for producing graphene-semiconductor nanowire hybrid material, comprising: (A) preparing a catalyst metal-coated mixture mass, which includes mixing graphene sheets with micron or sub-micron scaled semiconductor particles to form a mixture and depositing a nano-scaled catalytic metal onto surfaces of the graphene sheets and/or semiconductor particles; and (B) exposing the catalyst metal-coated mixture mass to a high temperature environment (preferably from 100° C. to 2,500° C.) for a period of time sufficient to enable a catalytic metal-catalyzed growth of multiple semiconductor nanowires using the semiconductor particles as a feed material to form the graphene-semiconductor nanowire hybrid material composition. An optional etching or separating procedure may be conducted to remove catalytic metal or graphene from the semiconductor nanowires.