Highly-Ordered Supportless Three-Dimensional Nanowire Networks with Tunable Complexity and Interwire Connectivity for Device Integration

Abstract

The fabrication of three-dimensional assemblies consisting of large quantities of nanowires is of great technological importance for various applications including (electro-)catalysis, sensitive sensing, and improvement of electronic devices. Because the spatial distribution of the nanostructured material can strongly influence the properties, architectural design is required in order to use assembled nanowires to their full potential. In addition, special effort has to be dedicated to the development of efficient methods that allow precise control over structural parameters of the nanoscale building blocks as a means of tuning their characteristics. This paper reports the direct synthesis of highly ordered large-area nanowire networks by a method based on hard templates using electrodeposition within nanochannels of ion track-etched polymer membranes. Control over the complexity of the networks and the dimensions of the integrated nanostructures are achieved by a modified template fabrication. The networks possess high surface area and excellent transport properties, turning them into a promising electrocatalyst material as demonstrated by cyclic voltammetry studies on platinum nanowire networks catalyzing methanol oxidation. Our method opens up a new general route for interconnecting nanowires to stable macroscopic network structures of very high integration level that allow easy handling of nanowires while maintaining their connectivity.

Self‐Supporting Metal Nanotube Networks Obtained by Highly Conformal Electroless Plating

“…[26] Aside from increaseds tability,t hese structures can also provide aw ell-defined, tailoredp orosity,w hich is beneficial for applicationsr elying on efficient mass-transport pathways. [27,28] Comparable progress has not been reported for ordered metal NT systems.…”

“…[29] If the ion irradiation is applied from different directions, polymer templates can be createdw hich contain networks of crossingc hannels, whose diameter,o rientation, density,and interconnection can be adjusted by changing the irradiation and etching conditions. [27] These pore networks define the structure of the final NT networks.…”

Binder-free three-dimensional silicon/carbon nanowire networks for high performance lithium-ion battery anodes

“…On the other hand, three-dimensional (3-D) self-supported network structure could potentially eliminate the agglomeration problem, and hence improve the structural stability and the battery performance due to the interconnected electron transport network and the native gaps for lithium ion diffusion [12][13][14]. Benefiting from the 3-D network structure, ultra-fast battery with a charge/discharge rate of over 1000 C was reported on a 3-D Ni/Li-Mn-O bicontinuous network [15], and significant enhancement of areal capacity and rate capability were also realized in 3-D Ni/TiO 2 and Ni-Sn nanowire networks using porous anodized alumina (PAA) templated synthesis method [12,13].…”

Towards Engineering Nanoporous Platinum Thin Films for Highly Efficient Catalytic Applications

“…showed 32-and 20-times-higher catalytic activity for methanol oxidation compared with Pt/C and PtB, [ 21 ] respectively. The ratio of the maximum current densities in the forward ( J f ) and backward ( J b ) scans, J f / J b , was also measured, to estimate the CO tolerance of the Pt catalyst fi lms.…”