WASHINGTON, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Researchers at the University of Illinois announced Monday that they have developed a new low-temperature, catalyst-free technique for growing copper nanowires.

    "We can grow forests of freestanding copper nanowires of controlled diameter and length, suitable for integration into electronic devices," said Kevin Kim, a professor of electrical and computer engineering.

    The copper nanowires are grown on a variety of surfaces, including glass, metal and plastic.

    The copper nanowires grown by this process could serve as interconnects in electronic device fabrication and as electron emitters in a television-like, very thin flat-panel display known as a field-emission display.

    Typically, the nanowires of 70 to 250 nanometers in diameter are grown on a silicon surface at temperatures of 200 to 300 degrees Celsius and require no seed or catalyst.