Nanostructures

Electrochemically Grown Nanostructures

Under unique set of conditions, metallic nanowires (d~10 nm) can be grown through the pores of nanoporous alumina (nAAO) with an unprecedented degree of HCP order, resulting in a metallic superstructure called nanocomb, demonstrated originally using Au and Ag electro-deposition. Since the nAAO template is also produced electrochemically this process involves no high temperature or vacuum processing steps. Since the walls of the nanocombs are formed by hexagonal arrangement of individual nanowires (L~2m) grown on aluminum substrate, the resulting nanostructure can have extremely large surface area. Currently we are tuning the existing process for the production of Pt nanocombs and test its effectiveness as an electrodes