  Magnesium nanostructures find increased use in applications for hydrogen
storage, catalysis, waste treatment, and heat storage to name a few. Currently,
most nanoparticles are made using a chemical synthesis approach, necessitating
the use of organic solvents and yielding material covered in ligands. To apply
these nanoparticles, one has to use them in paints or slurries for coating of
surfaces, which again produces waste. In this communication we explore the
possibilities of making magnesium nanostructures by a physical technique of
magnetron sputtering and to control their crystallographic properties, i.e. the
type of the dominating crystalline faces building up the external surface of
the particle. We show that by applying different process parameters, it is
possible to obtain dominating c-plane, mixed or dominating m-plane
nanostructures. Since the surface-related adsorption processes are strongly
related to the type of the crystalline plane, this report presents a clean,
waste-free and large-scale approach to develop tailored nanostructured Mg
coatings.
