The synthesis route and the growth mechanism of aligned GaN nanobeltsElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Experimental section, morphology and optical characterization of the aligned GaN nanobelts. See DOI: 10.1039/c4cc01303d

Crystallographically aligned GaN nanobelt arrays were synthesized through a hybrid process of Au-assisted nucleation followed by non-Au-assisted anisotropy vapor-solid growth on a (100) γ-LiAlO 2 substrate. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on aligned GaN nanobelts. Aligned GaN nanobelt arrays were synthesized by a hybrid Au-assisted nucleation and non-Au-assisted anisotropic vapor-solid growth process on a (100) γ-LiAlO 2 substrate.