Electrochemical Fabrication of Pd-Ag Alloy Nanowire Arrays in Anodic Alumina Oxide Template

The synthesis of Pd-Ag alloy nanowires in nanopores of porous anodic aluminum oxide （AAO） template by electrochemical deposition technique was reported. Pd-Ag alloy nanowires with 16%-25% Ag content are expected to serve as candidates of useful nanomaterials for the hydrogen sensors. Scanning electron microscopy （SEM） and energy dispersed X-ray spectroscopy （EDX） were employed to characterize the morphologies and compositions of the Pd-Ag nanowires. X-ray diffraction （XRD） was used to characterize the phase properties of the Pd-Ag nanowires. Pd-Ag alloy nanowire arrays with 17.28%-23.76% Ag content have been successfully fabricated by applying potentials ranging from -0.8 to -1.0 V （vs SCE）. The sizes of the alloy nanowires are in agreement with the diameter of AAO nanopores. The underpotential deposition of Ag＋ on Pd and Au plays an important role in producing an exceptionally high Ag content in the alloy. Alloy compositions can still be controlled by adjusting the ion concentration ratio of Pd^2＋ and Ag＋ and the electrodeposition processes. XRD shows that nanowires obtained are in the form of alloy of Pd and Ag.

Electroless Deposition of Nickel Nanowire and Nanotube Arrays as Supports for Pt-Pd Catalyst for Ethanol Electrooxidation

Nickel nanowire and nanotube arrays as supports for Pt-Pd catalyst were prepared by elec- troless deposition with anodic aluminum oxide template. Pt-Pd composite catalyst was de- posited on the arrays by displacement reaction. SEM images show that the nickel nanowires have an average diameter of I00 nm and the nickel nanotubes have an average inner diameter of 200 nm. EDS scanning reveals that elemental Pt and Pd disperse uniformly on the arrays. Cyclic voltammetry study indicates that the nickel nanotube array loaded with Pt-Pd pos- sesses a higher electrochemical activity for ethanol oxidation than the nickel nanowire array with Pt-Pd.

Rapid fabrication of large-area and uniform surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy substrate of Au nano-hemisphere array and its application in the detection of Malachite Green in tilapia

Although surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy(SERS)substrates have achieved high sensitivity,it is still difficult to apply these SERS protocols to the on-site detection of real samples due to the SERS substrate being fabrication-complexed,unstable,reproducible,or unable to be applied in batch production.Here,a large-scale ordered two-dimensional array of Au nano-hemispheres was developed through electron beam vaporization of Au onto the easy-available commercialized anodic aluminum oxide(AAO)template with two-layer nanostructures of different diameters.The uniform Au nano-hemisphere is reliable for SERS detection of malachite green(MG)due to the relative standard deviation(RSD)of the SERS intensities at different locations less than 10%.With the optimized excitation wavelength,solvent effect and pH environment,the linear range of MG detection spans from 10^(-10) to 10^(-6) mol/L with a limit of detection(LOD)of 4×10^(-10) mol/L.The enhancement factor can reach 1.2×10^(6).After extraction with acetonitrile and dichloromethane,MG in the spiked tilapia was detected with satisfactory recovery.The results indicate that the Au nano-hemisphere array can be expected to greatly facilitate SERS practical applications in detecting harmful food additives and chemicals due to the advantages of chemical inertness,physical robustness,simple fabrication,controllability,large-area uniformity,and large-batch production.

Uniform arrays of carbon nanotubes applied in the field emission devices

Carbon nanotubes(CNTs)were grown into anodic aluminum oxide(AAO)channels by chemical vapor deposition(CVD)using C2H2/N2mixtures as feeding gas,which can be used as field emitters.The bottom surface of AAO template was etched slightly and the tips of CNTs were explored as the field emission arrays which were uniform and vertical.Field emission characterization showed a low turn-on field about 3.25 V/m and high emission current about 30 mA/cm2with the electric field about 4 V/m.These superior field emission characteristics could be attributed to low density of vertical CNTs and higher conductivity of the substrate.

Simple and low-cost fabrication of a metal nanoplug on various substrates by electroless deposition

An electroless deposition（ELD） method is introduced to fabricate a metal nanoplug for its advantages of simplicity,low cost and auto-selectivity.It was demonstrated that nanoplugs of less than 50 nm in diameter can be fabricated by ELD nickel on various substrates,such as silicon,tungsten and titanium nitride.The main composition of the ELD nanoplug was characterized as nickel by an energy dispersive X-ray microanalyzer.A functional vertical phase-change random access memory（PCRAM） device with a heater diameter of around 9μm was fabricated by using the ELD method.TheⅠ-Ⅴcharacteristics demonstrated that the threshold current is only 90.8μA.This showed that the ELD process can satisfy the demands of PCRAM device application,as well as device performance improvement.The ELD process provides a promising method for the simple and low-cost fabrication of metal nanoplugs.

A general, rapid and solvent-free approach to fabricating nanostructured polymer surfaces

A general, rapid and solvent-free approach is proposed to fabricate nanostructured polymer surfaces by coupling ultrasonic vi- bration and anodized aluminum oxide templating. With our approach, hollow nanorods or nanofibers with controlled diameter and length are prepared on polymer surfaces. The whole fabrication process is completed in ～30 s and equally applicable to polymers of different crystalline structures. The wettability of the as-fabricated polymer surfaces （being hydrophilic, hydro- phobic, highly hydrophobic or even superhydrophobic） is readily regulated by adjusting the welding time from 0 s to a maxi- mum of 10 s. Our approach can be a promising industrial basis for manufacturing functional nanomaterials in the fields of electronics, optics, sensors, biology, medicine, coating, or fluidic technologies.