Combinational template-assisted fabrication of hierarchically ordered nanowire arrays on substrates for device applications

Abstract

By combining two self-organized templates, the authors fabricate hierarchically ordered nanowire arrays on substrates. The nanowire arrays consist of periodic voids at the microscale and hexagonally packed nanowires at the nanoscale. The nanowires are created by selective electrodeposition using nanoporous anodic alumina as a template and a porous gold film as a working electrode that is patterned by microsphere monolayers. In addition to in-plane hierarchical structure, they have sequentially varied the vertical structure of the nanowires. This approach is simple, inexpensive, and high throughput to fabricate nanostructures on substrates.