Dry-growth of silver single-crystal nanowires from porous Ag structure

Abstract

A fabrication method of single crystal Ag nanowires in large scale is introduced without any chemical synthesis in wet processes, which usually generates fivefold twinned nanowires of fcc metals. Dense single-crystal nanowires grow on a mechanically polished surface of micro-porous Ag structure, which is created from Ag micro-particles. The diameter and the length of the nanowires can be controlled simply by changing the temperature and the time of the heating during the nanowire growth in air. Unique growth mechanism is described in detail, based on stress-induced migration accelerated by the micro-porous structure where the origin of Ag nanowires growth is incubated. Transmission electron microscopy analysis on the single crystal nanowires is also presented. This simple method offered an alternative preparation for metallic nanowires, especially with the single crystal structure in numerous applications.