Self-assembled dendritic nanowires of Au–Pt alloy through electrodeposition from solution under AC fields

Abstract

Au–Pt dentritic nanowires (DNWs) bridging a pair of 10–40μm spacing electrodes were successfully self-assembled from the corresponding ions solution via deposition of an alternating current (AC). The morphology and the composition of Au–Pt DNWs were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersion X-ray (EDX) spectrometer. In the electrolyte of various molar ratios of [AuCl4]−/[PtCl6]2−, Au–Pt DNWs with 8–95at% Pt were fabricated through applying a constant voltage 8–16Vpp and varied frequencies of 300Hz for nucleation and 1MHz for growth. The DNWs have the diameter range of 100–200nm. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) results confirmed that the DNWs of 20 or 80at% Pt have the alloy phase structure. Au–Pt DNWs are promising nanomaterials of chemical sensors, bioelectronic circuits and nanoelectronic interconnection.