Abstract

The fabrication of microstructures on copper and nickel has been achieved by an approach named electrochemical wet stamping (E-WETS). The E-WETS process allows the direct imprinting of microscopic reliefs on an agarose stamp into nickel and copper through a selective anodic dissolution process. The pre-patterned agarose with a high gel strength that has been soaked in a desired etching solution is employed as a stamp. It can direct and supply the solution preferentially on the contact area owing to the constant supply of electrolyte from the agarose stamp to the interface and then the electrochemical reaction is limited only to the contact area. Simultaneously, the product can be removed from the gel/substrate interface. On the basis of the electrochemical behavior of the copper electrode in contact with the agarose full of 0.1 M HClO4, the potential for the electrochemical micromachining was chosen to be a relatively low value, 0.4 V versus SCE, to prevent the generation of cuprous oxide. A voltage pulse was applied to the electrochemical machining of nickel. The pulse amplitude was set to 8 V versus SCE to take the electrode into the transpassivation region rather than the passivation region in the pulse duration. Furthermore, the different electrochemical mechanisms involved in the etching process have been discussed in detail.

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