US Patent 7714317 - Semiconductor nanomaterial with carbon shell

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7714317.html

This patent from Brookhaven Science Associates teaches using carbon coating to avoid oxidation of Ge and GaN nanowires. Claim 1 reads:

1. An encapsulated semiconducting nanomaterial comprising:

a semiconducting nanomaterial having a diameter and a surface, the diameter of the semiconducting nanomaterial having a magnitude between about 1 nm and about 100 nm;

an encapsulant, the encapsulant enclosing the semiconducting nanomaterial and comprising an ordered carbon shell; and

an interface between the ordered carbon shell and the semiconducting nanomaterial, the interface decorated with islands of metal.