In this study, SiO2 nanowires were prepared by using rice husks as silicon source via a hydrothermal method. The microstructure, thermal stability and morphology of SiO2 nanowires were characterized by X-ray diffraction, infrared spectroscopy, thermal gravimetric analysis and scanning electron microscope. SiO2 nanowires with a diameter of 30-100 nm were obtained and the formation mechanism of SiO2 nanowires during the hydrothermal reaction was proposed. The SiO2 nanowires were introduced into membrane spin columns to isolate RNA and the values of A260/280 and A260/230 were 2.0-2.1 and 1.8-2.0, respectively, which shows the SiO2 nanowires were effective for RNA purification. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.