Study of the Electrochemical Preparation of Atom-Scale Iron Quantum Wire Controlled by an External Resistor

Abstract

In the present work, the stable atom-scale iron quantum wire was electrochemically prepared and characterized successfully by a homemade electrochemically controlled system. By adjusting the resistance of the external resistor, the atom-scale iron wire with preset conductance would be obtained. When scanned with low bias, the iron quantum wires showed the linear ohmic relationship for the current-voltage curve. With an external resistor control, the diameter, aspect ratio can be easily tailored, so it was a simple and controllable method. In addition, with a pure water environment of the preparation, the method had a less interference of other ions and was more suitable for sensor study of the quantum wire. The work was greatly significant for material science, molecular electronics, chemical and biological sensing.

Study of the surface structure of Fe quantum wire prepared by electrochemical method in solution

“…A key task of the present experiment is to fabricate the atomic-scale Fe junction with quantum conductance. We fabricated such nanostructured materials using two different electrochemical strategies which had been described previously by our group [15,16]. The first one was a directly electrochemical corrosion and deposition process [15].…”

“…Another electrochemical method for preparing an atomic-scale Fe contact was using a selfterminating electrochemical experiment scheme under the controlling of an external resistance [16]. Briefly, two opposite Fe microelectrodes separated with a micron-scale gap were first formed by cutting the thin Fe wire (100 microns in diameter) which had been glued and insulated with the AB glue on the glass slide.…”