Abstract
The fabrication and characterization of superconducting nanowires fabricated by the anodic aluminium oxide (AAO) template technique has been reviewed. This templating method was applied to conventional metallic superconductors, as well as to several high-temperature superconductors (HTSc). For filling the templates with superconducting material, several different techniques have been applied in the literature, including electrodeposition, sol-gel techniques, sputtering, and melting. Here, we discuss the various superconducting materials employed and the results obtained. The arising problems in the fabrication process and the difficulties concerning the separation of the nanowires from the templates are pointed out in detail. Furthermore, we compare HTSc nanowires prepared by AAO templating and electrospinning with each other, and give an outlook to further research directions.
Highlights
Basic IdeasThe basic idea of the fabrication of superconducting nanowires via the anodic aluminium oxide (AAO) template approach is to fill the template with superconducting material
Introduction the Template MethodNanomaterialsSuperconducting nanowires are interesting mesoscopic 1-dimensional (1D) objects for many reasons
In the present review, we focus on the fabrication processes of superconducting nanowires using mainly the anodic aluminium oxide (AAO) template approach, discuss the various problems appearing in the preparation and separation of the nanowires, and give an outlook to further research
Summary
The basic idea of the fabrication of superconducting nanowires via the AAO template approach is to fill the template with superconducting material. There is a possibility to study matching effects of the vortex lattice in a superconducting film evaporated on top of the AAO template with the lattice of the AAO pores. In this case, there is no need to remove anything from the templates similar to the patterned media in magnetism. This second approach has attracted researchers to these effects Such experiments were carried out using conventional metallic type-II superconductors, such as Nb, NbN, or MoGe [46,47,48,49,50,51], as AAO is not a reasonable template for HTSc thin films.
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