No abstract

Synthesis of nanomaterials is one of the most researched areas. Nanomaterials are at the core of all modern nano-devices. The reduced size helps electronics to have increased performance, low energy consumption and low heat output. Properties of nanomaterials are mainly related to the involved large surface to volume ratio. Nanomaterials can be fabricated using different methods. One of the intensely used, inexpensive and with high degree of reproducibility is electrochemistry (EC), which can be used either to destroy (corrosion) or to create (thin films, nanoparticles, nanowires (NWs), etc.) materials. In this paper we focus on the effect of the electrochemical treatment (EchT) on the structural and magnetic properties of nanowires. Ni NWs were synthesized and analyzed by SQUID to study the magnetic properties induced by the EchT of the Au substrate. Ni NWs were synthesized in a gold-coated PCTE membrane using template synthesis. The EchT induced structural modifications of the Au substrate and further modifications of NWs magnetism. AFM image of the Au plated PCTE template SEM image of Ni Nanowires

Co-Ni nanowires with composition gradient were grown by template assisted electrochemical deposition. Using PCTE membrane to grow nanowires makes the deposition of an alloy inside the pores more challenging because the growth is affected by the transport of the electroactive ions into the pores. A novel step-wise deposition-stripping strategy was used to grow NWs with controlled composition along the length of nanowire while maintaining constant the electrolyte composition. A detailed electrochemical analysis was performed to understand and control the Co stripping process, and to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed method. Redox reactions allow us to create custom deposition-stripping programs that enable us to better select and control the potential used to grow the nanowires of controlled composition. Samples were analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and EDS. Quantitative analysis performed on samples has revealed that the designed stripping technique and selected potentials resulted in Co-Ni nanowires with up to 3 times more Ni then the samples obtained from similar electrolyte.

During the last decade an increasing number of researchers focused on materials that have at least one dimension in the nanoscale range. That one dimension has immense impact on the physical and chemical properties of the materials, which is mainly due to the large surface to volume ratio. In order to modify the ratio of surface to volume, many shapes can be produced. Each shape is more useful in certain application than in others (e.g. nanowires are more used in sensors then other shapes and nanospheres are more used in medicine).In this paper, nickel nanowires were grown by electrochemical deposition into polycarbonate track etched (PCTE) membrane. The morphology and size of Ni NWs were examined using an Environmental Scanning Electron Microscopy equipped with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy.