Fabrication and characterization of well-ordered PbS nanowires in aluminum oxide template by sulfurization and vacuum injection molding processes

Abstract

Lead (Pb) nanowire arrays were fabricated with anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) templates of 30, 100 and 300 nm in pore diameters. Through vacuum injection molding process, Pb/AAO composite was obtained, and lead sulfide (PbS) could further be synthesized after exposing to sulfur gas. AAO templates with different pore sizes were fabricated by using pure aluminum in a two-step anodization. Three types of solutions, which are 10 vol% sulfuric acid, 3 wt% oxalic acid and 1 vol% phosphoric acid, were adopted to achieve AAO of various pore sizes. Different sulfurization temperatures and time spans were applied for studying on the formation mechanism of PbS. Finally, the morphology, composition, structure and elements distribution of the as-prepared Pb and PbS nanowires were confirmed through the use of scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy, element-mapping, x-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy analysis. The results indicated that Pb nanowires were successfully obtained after applying vacuum injection molding process with 50 kgf cm−2 hydraulic pressure, and PbS nano arrays can be formed by sulfurization at 500 °C for 5 h. Furthermore, an optical property, ultraviolet–visible (UV–Vis) absorption, was also measured. The measurement of the PbS nanowires showed that a significant quantum confinement effect made the energy gap produce a blue shift from 0.41 eV to 1.65 eV or 1.72 eV.

Advances in the Fabrication of Nanoporous Anodic Aluminum Oxide and Its Applications to Sensors: A Review

“…Masuda et al, in 1995 [74], proposed the two-step anodization method for AAO technology, as shown in Figure 7, which laid the foundation for the AAO processes and applications. Many groups still follow this approach [128][129][130][131] today for AAO-related research. The first AAO can leave a pre-pattern after the removal process, making the hexagonal structure more regular during the second step of anodization.…”

Nanoscale self-assembly: concepts, applications and challenges

“…Nanowires are a class of nanostructures that have been widely fabricated using AAO [241,[251][252][253]. The typical process flow for nanowire synthesis using this technique involves the fabrication of AAO templates with various pore sizes and geometries followed by the production and deposition of the starting materials for the nanowires (e.g.…”