A Hybrid Approach to Fabricated Nanowire-Nanoparticle Composites of a Co-W Alloy and Au Nanoparticles

Abstract

Co-W nanowires were fabricated by pulsed electrodeposition from a citrate-glycine electrolyte onto rotating cylinder electrodes and into nanoporous polycarbonate membranes. The characterization of the electrodeposition conditions and alloy composition of electrodeposited Co-W alloy thin films were determined and used to guide conditions to electrodeposit the nanowires. Gold nanoparticles of 50 nm size were also added to the electrolyte and deposited during electrodeposition of the Co-W alloy nanowires, embedded within, and attached to the nanowire tip, introducing a novel procedure to attached nanoparticles onto nanowires. Nano-electrodes can be used for various sensing applications, and they can be easily integrated in micro-and nano-scale devices. 1 The sensitivity of nano-electrodes depends on the diameter of electrode tip, and the highest sensitivity is observed by most electrochemical methods if the diameter of the working electrode tip is on the same order of the molecular species being detected. To this end, nano-gaping technology has been applied for the fabrication of nano-electrodes that are based on FIB and E-beam lithographic approaches, 2,3 including electrodeposition and/or chemical etching techniques. 4