Nanowires / Nanoobjects

Template wetting

Abstract People Publications Cooperations Alumni

M. Steinhart

The use of nanoporous materials as templates is a versatile approach to the preparation of one-dimensional nanostructures and microstructures (C. R. Martin, Science 1994, 266, 1961-1966). Wetting porous templates with melts and solutions is a versatile access to rods and tubes (Figure 1) of functional materials ranging from inorganic oxides such as lithium niobate to fluoropolymers such as poly(vinylidene difluoride) and poly(tetrafluoroethylene). For this purpose, we employ ordered porous alumina and macroporous silicon as molds. The diameters of the one-dimensional nanostructures and microstructures thus obtained can be adjusted between a few tens of nanometers and a few microns. Their length may amount to several hundreds of microns. They may form extended, ordered arrays (Figure 2).