High Density Silver Nanowire Arrays using Self-ordered Anodic Aluminum Oxide(AAO) Membrane

Abstract

Highly ordered silver nanowire with a diameter of 10 ㎚ was arrayed by electroless deposition in a porous anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) membrane. The AAO membrane was fabricated electrochemically in an oxalic acid solution via a two-step anodization process, while growth of the silver nanowire was initiated by using electroless deposition at the long-range-ordered nanochannels of the AAO membrane followed by thermal reduction of a silver nitrate aqueous solution by increasing the temperature up to 350℃ for an hour. An additional electro-chemical procedure was applied after the two-step anodization to control the pore size and channel density of AAO, which enabled us to fabricate highly-ordered silver nanowire on a large scale. Electroless deposition of silver nitrate aqueous solution into the AAO membrane and thermal reduction of silver nanowires was performed by increasing the temperature up to 350℃ for 1 h. The morphologies of silver nanowires arrayed in the AAO membrane were investigated using SEM. The chemical composition and crystalline structure were confirmed by XRD and EDX. The electrolessdeposited silver nanowires in AAO revealed a well-crystallized self-ordered array with a width of 10 ㎚.