Transport-limited electrochemical formation of long nanosharp probes from tungsten

Abstract

We show that electrochemical formation of long probes with nanosharp tips can be controlled by choosing an appropriate thermodynamic pathway of metal to metal oxide and hydroxide transformation. Currently, convection-limited electropolishing (CLE) is extensively used. Nanosharp probes are produced by electrochemically etching a wire until it breaks into two pieces. This process is difficult to control because of the complexity of the associated hydrodynamic flows. We introduce transport-limited electropolishing (TLE), where the electrochemical reaction results in the formation of metal oxides and hydroxides which form a porous surface layer hindering the flow of electrolyte. The developed TLE method enables one to make long tapered needles. The taper can spread over more than 6 mm while the radius of tip curvature can be decreased down to 30 nm. These needles are strong and were successfully applied for piercing single smooth vascular muscle cells.