Nanowire Fabrication in Porous Alumina Tempalets Produced by Employing Sulphuric, Oxalic and Phosphoric Acids

Abstract

We report the growth of silver nanowires with varying diameters in porous anodic aluminum- oxide (AAO) membranes by using the electroless deposition approach. This objective is carried out in 2 phases. In Phase 1, AAO membranes on high purity aluminum foils are electrochemically grown by a double anodization procedure. Three different electrolytes, sulphuric acid (H2SO4), oxalic acid (H2C2O4) and phosphoric acid (H3PO4), are employed to produce membranes with varying pore diameters. Other parameters such as interpore distance, barrier layer thickness and membrane thickness are also explored. In addition, characterization to modify the pore diameter and open the barrier layer of free standing AAO templates has been carried out. In Phase 2, metallic silver nanowires are grown by electroless deposition inside pores with varying diameters in AAO membranes. AAO membranes immersed in aqueous silver nitrate solutions are thermally reduced, and the resulting silver nanowires are characterized by using a scanning electron microscope (SEM).